Olympic champion Gable Steveson may be the most highly touted prospect to ever join the UFC roster and even before he makes his debut he’s being asked about potential title fights in the near future.
Considering his long list of accolades in wrestling along with counting UFC legend Jon Jones as one of his primary coaches and mentors, it’s tough to argue against Steveson’s potential as a future contender and possible champion at heavyweight. In fact, Steveson admits he’s keeping a close eye on the division — including names like Ciryl Gane, Tom Aspinall and Josh Hokit — as he prepares for his octagon debut at UFC 329.
“Of course, I’m eyeballing [them],” Steveson said during UFC 329 media day. “But my first task is to go out there Saturday night and put on a great performance and let everybody in this room know that I’m here.”
Hokit is one name that gets brought up often with Steveson due to his own wrestling background where he was an All-American at Fresno State University before turning his attention towards football and then eventually MMA. These days, Hokit has become one of the most talked about fighters on the entire UFC roster, not only for his blistering rise up the heavyweight ranks but also due to his outlandish and often times bizarre behavior inside and outside the cage.
It also adds a little extra fuel to the fire that Steveson shares some of the same coaches as Hokit with both fighters primarily training out of New Mexico. In particular, Steveson and Hokit count Greg Jackson as a major voice preparing for fights but the two-time NCAA champion from Minnesota doesn’t really see that as a conflict of interest for them.
“Josh Hokit does what Josh Hokit does,” Steveson said. “What he’s doing is great for him. The character work is working for him. Applause for him making it work. If people like it, people like it. If people don’t, then who cares.
“We’ve been in the same room many times. Josh is doing a fantastic job of what Josh does. Good for him.”
As far as a potential fight between them somewhere down the road, Steveson doesn’t shy away from possibly facing off with Hokit as an opponent.
But ideally, Steveson plans on staying focused on the best of the best at heavyweight and he feels like Hokit might be better off contemplating a move to light heavyweight to really benefit his future in the UFC.
“It’s not tough for me to go against Josh Hokit,” Steveson said. “I honestly heard that Josh Hokit was going to go down to 205 [pounds] from someone. If he goes down, that would be a great decision for him in the long run.”
Before he can get to Hokit or anybody else in the division, Steveson first has to get through Elisha Ellison on Saturday where he enters the fight as possibly the biggest betting favorite in UFC history.
Having so much faith in Steveson already with just a 3-0 record in MMA says a lot about what’s expected of him in the future but he’s just ready to get to work so he can backup why there’s so much hype around him before ever throwing a punch in the UFC.
“It doesn’t matter to me,” Steveson said. “I come to show up and do the best thing that I can possibly ever do and that’s win and that’s all that matters to me.”
