dpA two-time NCAA Division I national champion and four-time Big Ten champion who won a gold medal in the 2020 Summer Olympics in freestyle wrestling, Stevenson initially joined World Wrestling Entertainment. After that didn’t work out, the University of Minnesota product, who had never even played high school ball, signed on with Buffalo in May of 2024 as a defensive lineman.
“I think a couple things, one of which is I’m a big believer in wrestlers, and what skills you develop in wrestling and how it can transfer to being a really good football player, especially among the offensive line and defensive line position groups,” then-Bills head coach Sean McDermott said upon seeing Steveson. “Having not played football ever—not even in high school—that’s a little bit different. That’s a little bit unique, so there’s more work to be done in terms of starting from scratch, from zero, and then trying to build each day.”
Steveson’s first-ever football game was actually the Bills’ 2024 preseason opener, a game in which he had a tackle and QB pressure in 14 snaps. His NFL career would equate to three preseason games, three tackles and two QB hits.
He left an impression, though. One that’s carried over to his new head coach, Greg Jackson, one of the more celebrated trainers in MMA history, having coached past UFC champions such as Rashad Evans, Carlos Condit, Holly Holm, George St-Pierre and Jon Jones.
“I think if you’re a fan, you’re going to need to tune in to see what can this guy do,” Jackson said on UFC Embedded. I mean he already won the Olympic gold medal at heavyweight in wrestling. That is so hard to do, I can’t even tell you. Where is the ceiling? What can he accomplish? What can he do? I’m telling you right now, I’ve worked with most of the greatest fighters to ever do this game and his athletic ability is unprecedented. The way he thinks about things, how smart he is, how coachable. You need to tune in now to see where the ceiling for this guy is, cause he might be redefining what this sport is.”
Jones, whose brother Chandler and late brother Arthur both played in the NFL, is heavily involved in Steveson’s career, which takes its next — and biggest — step on Saturday.
Odds were long that Steveson would make the Bills. However, when Steveson (3-0) faces off with Ellison (5-2) on Saturday, the 26-year-old will do so as a massive favorite.
Steveson’s not avoiding the hype or pressure, embracing it as perhaps only a generational athlete who owns a gold medal in wrestling and once up a time decided to try out to be an NFL player with zero past experience can. In his three previous MMA bouts, Steveson has prevailed in the first round via stoppage, having totaled just 5 minutes 52 seconds of cage time.
“This will be the show that I want it to be,” he said. “It will be the Gable Steveson show. When I walk out there, I hope everyone wants to tune in and wants to see a vicious victory and a dominating performance from me.”
At this point, he still might have more preseason game time with the Bills on his resume than fighting time. Eventually that will change. For now, though, one of the greatest American wrestlers to have ever stepped on a mat is ready to take the UFC by storm — roughly two years after he was prepping for training camp in Western New York.
“I’ve been in big performances my whole life,” Steveson said. “This is just another day for me.”
