It’s all aboard as the Gable Steveson hype train is leaving the station.
Steveson, a two-time Division I wrestling champion, has finally committed himself to a career in combat sports and knocked out his
first two opponents in combat sports over the past two months. His first MMA win in LFA took him just a minute and a half. His second in DBX was over in 15 seconds. And now Dana White is talking like Steveson’s arrival in the UFC is inevitable.
The UFC CEO was on the Jim Rome Show yesterday (Thu. Nov. 6, 2025) and heaped praise on the 2020 Olympic gold medalist.
“When you have someone that’s a physical freak, an incredible athlete, and a guy who has competed at the highest levels, and then they start transitioning into a combat sport like this? It’s very interesting,” White said. “We’re definitely keeping our eyes on him and we’ll see how it plays out.”
White tied Steveson’s potential to that of Brock Lesnar, who also holds an NCAA Division I championship.
“Think about this: Brock Lesnar came over here from WWE but he was such a strong wrestler he was able to win the title,” he said. “Now you’ve got a guy like this with his wrestling background who’s actually working his way up in the smaller leagues, getting some experience, and eventually he’ll end up here and we’ll see what he’s capable of doing.”
Despite his recent feud with Jon Jones, White complimented Steveson for linking up with “Bones” and training with his crew down in New Mexico.
“That doesn’t suck either. It’s a great thing actually,” he said. “If you train with the best every day, those are usually the guys who become world champions.”
In a recent interview on the No Scripts Podcast, Jones also painted Steveson as a future champion.
“Gable is a tremendous athlete, friend, incredibly humble, hard working, disciplined, dedicated,” Jones said. “I talked to him earlier today and I told him he reminds me of myself when I was 25 years old, just with more focus and discipline. I’m grateful to be part of his camp he’s exactly the kind of athlete I’ve been waiting for to pass things forward to.”
“He’s just tremendous. I want to see him going all the way to the top. As of right now I’m playing the role of brother, mentor and coach. I’ve introduced him to my whole life We have the same lawyer, same manager, same agents, same strength coach, same swim coach, same boxing coach. I think he’s really intelligent for seeing the way my career has gone and having the humility to come and train under us.”
“Bones” went so far as to say he felt like Steveson was giving him an opportunity to relive his career through the eyes of a protege.
“I’m excited because I feel like I’m at the twilight of my career but I get to relive the whole thing over again,” he said. “I get to be backstage again, I get to be in the world championship opportunities again through Gable. So it’s really impressive. It’s really a blessing and I’m just grateful.”
This is a lot of hype for someone with just two fights under their belt, but Steveson does have the wrestling pedigree to merit the excitement. We’ll wait until we see how his hands perform against someone in the top 15 before signing off on his future champion status, but given the state of the UFC’s heavyweight division we could see him busting into the top 10 quickly once the promotion eventually signs him.
