Olympic gold medalist and two-time NCAA Division-1 National Champion Gable Steveson is 4-0 in his professional MMA career with four first-round knockouts. That includes his destruction of Elisha Ellison as part of the UFC 329 event earlier this month at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Yawn.
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“People say, ‘He’s a monster, an Olympic wrestling champion.’ Man, I watched Gable’s debut, and I wasn’t that impressed. I didn’t get all the hype,” UFC heavyweight Valter Walker told MMA Fighting. “Same with Josh Hokit. Fight fans don’t really understand fighting, you know? He beat Curtis Blaydes, I think that’s the biggest win of his career. He beat him convincingly, sure. But I still don’t know how Curtis Blaydes lost to him like that.”
The 28-year-old Walker (15-1) has won four straight, all by way of first-round heel hook.
“I’m not scared of Josh Hokit or Gable Steveson one bit,” Walker added. “If that’s the next fight, bring it on. Can you imagine? I beat [Steveson], climb on the cage, and spit in Jon Jones’ face. Damn! People holding Jon Jones back while I’m screaming that I’m the GOAT and telling Jon Jones to go f*ck himself. All the hype would come my way. It’s an opportunity. But I don’t know if the guy’s … maybe he has a good manager. I know I have a good manager. But does he have one too? He probably does. If he doesn’t, even better, that gives me an opportunity.”
Walker made submission history at UFC 321 with a broken leg.
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Steveson just competed at UFC 329 and Hokit (10-0) is fresh off his UFC White House victory over Derrick Lewis, so by the time Walker is ready to get back into the cage, both Steveson and Hokit should be available. Whether or not matchmakers want to book either of them against the Brazilian remains to be seen.
