Gable Steveson is set to make his UFC debut and is ready to make an impact — especially with Jon Jones by his side.
The Olympic gold medalist faces Elisha Ellison at UFC 329 in his inaugural walk to the octagon. A protege of former two-division champ and all-time great Jon Jones, Steveson understands the impact that comes with having someone like Jones on his side. In fact, you can argue Jones has been more excited for Steveson’s MMA future than he was for his own career.
“He’s got high hopes for me,” Steveson told MMA Fighting. “I think he kind of sees his skill set, and kind of sees what I can do with his skill set and how I can kind of manage who Jon Jones was, and be the athlete that he was also. So I think that’s why he’s so giddy.
“He’s excited to watch someone compete who he has bestowed his power on, and so it’s neat to see, but it’s really cool.”
Steveson is 3-0 with three first-round finishes in his young MMA career, and also holds a 15 second knockout win in his lone appearance for Dirty Boxing. In his most recent competitive venture, Steveson made a successful return to the wrestling mat with a tech fall win against former UFC fighter Alexandr Romanov at RAF 9 in May.
Not only is Jones a pivotal presence for Steveson as he competes, the 26-year-old hopes “Bones” being octagon side will create some different emotions for his opponents as well.
“I think it’s a big thing to have Jon Jones in my corner,” Steveson explained. It’s a big confidence booster. And if you look when we walk out and Jon walks out, the opponents are going to look at Jon and be like, ‘Wow, that’s the greatest of all time in the corner of Gable Steveson showing him what to do. What is Gable Steveson possibly going to do to me that Jon has taught him.’
“So it’s a huge confidence boost and, hopefully, when he walks out, the opponents get a little more scared as the time goes on because Jon’s in the corner watching.”
Jones retired from the sport and vacated his heavyweight title, which is now held by Tom Aspinall. With the announcement of UFC White House, Jones was hoping to get another chance to hone his skills in the octagon but the UFC elected not to put him on the card.
Now that Steveson is in the UFC, could Jones return to action, and, perhaps, share a card with the surging heavyweight prospect?
“Yeah, it would be really cool if he fought again, but Jon’s going to do whatever Jon wants to do, and if he wants to fight again, he’ll fight again, but we’ll see,” Steveson said.
