Gable Steveson tipped to be UFC champion ‘in 18 months’ after incredible 24-second KO

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2. UFC

Between winning Olympic gold and debuting in MMA, the American had spells in WWE and with an NFL team

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Gable Steveson has been tipped to become a UFC champion “in 18 months”, just two fights into his professional mixed martial arts (MMA) career.

Steveson made his name as an amateur wrestler, winning Olympic gold for Team USA at the 2021 Games in Tokyo, before signing a pro-wrestling contract with WWE.

Despite his WWE deal, Steveson continued to compete in amateur wrestling and even signed with the NFL’s Buffalo Bills last summer, before being released by the American football franchise after just three months.

Steveson, 25, was also released by WWE this May, but he seems to have found a new calling.

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Steveson has fought twice in MMA since September, winning both his debut and last weekend’s sophomore outing via first-round knockout.

Between those bouts, Steveson also secured a 15-second KO in Dirty Boxing, and he almost matched the speed of that victory with his latest MMA bout.

On Sunday, Steveson secured a KO 24 seconds into his fight with Kevin Hein, stopping his opponent with a brutal left hook.

As MMA journalist Ariel Helwani noted on X (formerly Twitter): “Gable’s so fast he shot for the takedown [while his] opponent was already out.”

Former Olympic wrestler and MMA champion Ben Askren shared Helwani’s tweet and wrote: “Yep, time to go to the UFC. Gable can be champ in 18 months.”

Both of Steveson’s MMA bouts took place at heavyweight, where Britain’s Tom Aspinall is the reigning UFC champion.

And Askren has tipped Steveson to follow his own path from Olympic wrestling to the UFC, where Askren ended his MMA career after holding titles in Bellator and One Championship.

Askren, 41, debuted in the UFC in 2019 and fought three times that year. The American scored a controversial submission win over former welterweight champion Robbie Lawler, before losing to Jorge Masvidal via a record-setting KO inside five seconds, and then suffering a submission defeat by Demian Maia.

Askren retired from MMA after the final result, before competing once in freestyle wrestling (one of his former sports) and once in professional boxing, where he was knocked out by YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul.

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