Gable Steveson and UFC Ceiling are already being perceived in a particular way ahead of his promotional debut with a UFC Hall of Famer weighing in on all of that. Gable Steveson is unbeaten in MMA, and the Jon Jones protege is making his UFC debut at UFC 329 against Elisha Ellison.
The UFC Hall of Fame inductee in question is Clay Guida, who discussed this ahead of a Real American Freestyle contest with Steveson also competing for RAF. There’s a certain sentiment from many who in the wrestling space, but also within MMA, who tout Gable Stevenson’s ability to become a UFC champion in pretty short order. When asked if he sees what other people are seemingly seeing, Guida said [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Most definitely. Gable Steveson is a phenom. The guy is a workhorse. He has done everything in wrestling that you can do from a young age. Being just over the border in Indiana winning the state titles in youth wrestling, to high school up in Minnesota, to the NCAA level. I want to say a two maybe a three-time NCAA champ, a world champ, and won Olympic gold. So we got to see him win some NCAA titles.”
“I was there last year, arguably in maybe the biggest upset in NCAA history when he came up short against Wyatt Hendrickson. It was a phenomenal match. I got to enjoy that with my dad and my brother. NCAA’s it’s something we go to every year. But you see an athlete like him that takes a liking to something and you better watch out. I mean, the sky is the limit and he is learning at a rapid rate.”
“I know Jon Jones very well. We trained together at Jackson’s for years, friend of mine, teammate of mine for years. To see him taking somewhat of a coaching role, if you will, a trainer role, a teammate role, a mentor role in Gable Steveson, I love it. You couldn’t have a better individual to help him fulfill his MMA dreams. Man, I look at those last three fights of his, which a lot of people saw… He’s finishing these guys almost just as soon as the fight starts. There’s always going to be haters.”
Gable Steveson will show out for bad a** wrestlers inside the UFC cage, per Gudia
Further delving into Gable Steveson and his UFC possibilities ahead of his looming debut with the organization in July, Guida continued [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“There’s always going to be people that are critics in anything especially in professional sports. This guy is going to achieve everything that he wants to. I think it’s completely up to him and like you said, I see a fast trajectory in my eyes. I think realistically, if you see how the UFC is lately, here’s the deal. I’ll use myself as an example. I wouldn’t say we got a late start because I got into the UFC, I think I was 25 or maybe 24 in the UFC. But I also had 25 fights before I got in the UFC.”
“I think I had 21 or 22 wins and a few losses before I got into the UFC. Now you see guys that are having three, four, five wins that are getting in the UFC. Maybe because of the Contender Series, maybe because of The Ultimate Fighter. Maybe because they just have great representation. Boom, they’re doing things in other organizations and they’re getting the fast track to the UFC. My brother and I, we didn’t know any better back then. It was fight, fight, fight as often as we can.”
“I think there was one year in 2004 or five, I might have had I think 2005 I had like 11 or 13 fights or something in one year. I can’t remember, but it was just one of those… Mindset was fast-track our way to the big show, to the UFC. Now, there’s different avenues with representation, with social media, with content. This, that, and the other. There’s ways to get there. Not to mention the level of MMA, the competition level has grown immensely.”
“But back to your point, Gable Steveson… [he] will be ready for whoever they put in front of him, and he will dominate, man…. Truly prepared to step into that octagon and under those bright lights. He’s been in it before on the world a world level on Olympic level. He’s done it all. But I really want to see him achieve that. Not to be selfish, but to have another badass wrestler there, to have arguably one of the best wrestlers in there representing wrestling on the MMA level.”
