Gable Steveson has gained a new perspective on what it takes to succeed in MMA by working alongside one of the greatest fighters in the sport’s history.
The former Olympic freestyle wrestling gold medalist has enjoyed a strong start to his fighting career, compiling a 2–0 record inside the cage while also winning a Dirty Boxing bout since making his professional MMA debut in September.
Steveson decided to transition into mixed martial arts while training alongside then–UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones (28–1 MMA, 22–1 UFC) in 2023.
“I knew Jon from Instagram,” Steveson said this week during an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience. “He sent me a DM and gave me his number. And if you know Jon, he doesn’t answer the phone worth anything, which is crazy. But he sent me his number and said, ‘Call me,’ so I did.
“This was before he got hurt ahead of the first Stipe [Miocic] fight. He told me, ‘I want you to come train with us. I want a wrestling partner.’”
Having finished all 3 of his fights since September by way of 1st-round knockout, Steveson has caught the eye of all of the world’s top organizations. He is expected to sign a contract with the UFC in the near future, and Steveson says that being around Jones has shown him what it means to be a true star in the combat sports world.
“I needed somebody to really engrave it in me,” Steveson explained. “In wrestling, I had my father, I had the University of Minnesota, and I had good people around me who could say, ‘Hey, this is how we’re going to do it. This is where you need to go, and this is how it’s going to happen.’
“When I saw Jon, I saw that drive. I thought, ‘Damn, this guy’s winning. People get close, but they can’t get past him. Why is that?’ So I sat back and studied his mentality, how he approached things, how he talked to people, how he walked, how he punched, how he looked in the pocket, when he needed to get out, and even when he rested his hands. I watched everything.
“I realized, ‘Man, this guy’s a superstar…a super, super star.’ We all knew that, and people had known it for a long time. But when I really saw him up close, I thought, ‘Damn, I want to be that.’ That’s what truly flipped the switch for me.”
