LAS VEGAS – Gable Steveson impressed many in his UFC debut, including UFC CEO Dana White.
Many of the eyes in the combat sports world were set on Steveson (4-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) and his bout against Elisha Ellison (5-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC) at Saturday’s UFC 329. Expectations were set high for Steveson, given that he’s an Olympic gold-medal wrestler and has been taken under the wing of Jon Jones – who many consider the greatest MMA fighter of all time. Despite having some big shoes to fill, Steveson delivered by stopping Ellison in the first round.
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“It was incredible,” White told reporters at the UFC 329 post-fight press conference. “Normally what happens, especially for as long as I’ve been in this business, you sign a big, badass, high-level wrestler like that, they come and stink the place up and lay on the ground. That dude did the exact opposite. He looked like a mixed martial artist. He didn’t look like a wrestler to me. He’s fun, throwing kicks, punches, and willing to stand in the pocket and bang. A lot of wrestlers don’t like to get punched in the face. So yeah, he’s fun. It’s going to be interesting.”
Steveson marched down a game Ellison and used a varied attack to put him away in the first round of their heavyweight contest. Steveson used punches, elbows, body, and oblique kicks. He didn’t even use his strongest weapon, which is wrestling.
Steveson made his professional MMA debut last September. Since then, he’s racked up four first-round stoppage victories. The 26-year-old has one of the more prestigious wrestling backgrounds in MMA. Steveson won gold at the 2020 Summer Olympics and was also a two-time Dan Hodge Trophy winner, a two-time NCAA Division I national champion out of the University of Minnesota.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Dana White awed by Gable Steveson’s ‘incredible’ UFC 329 debut win
