Gable Steveson’s Long Road to the Octagon Runs Through One Strange NFL Detour
Gable Steveson makes his UFC debut Saturday against Elisha Ellison, a heavyweight bout on the preliminary card of UFC 329: McGregor vs. Holloway 2 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The fight was originally slated for the main card before UFC officials shifted it to the prelims as the lineup for International Fight Week took shape.
Steveson enters 3-0 as a professional fighter, with all three wins coming by first-round stoppage. Ellison is 5-2. Oddsmakers list Steveson as a heavy favorite heading into his promotional debut, according to MMA Junkie.
Two years ago, almost nobody would have guessed this is where Steveson’s path led. In May 2024, the Olympic wrestling gold medalist signed with the Buffalo Bills as a defensive lineman — despite never having played a single down of football, not even in high school.
From Wrestling Mat to NFL Practice Field
Steveson’s football experiment came after his first professional wrestling run in WWE didn’t pan out. He’d already built one of the most decorated amateur wrestling résumés in American history: a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, two NCAA Division I national titles and four Big Ten championships, all at the University of Minnesota.
Then-Bills head coach Sean McDermott explained the thinking behind the signing at the time. He pointed to a belief that wrestling skills translate well to line play, while acknowledging the obvious gap in Steveson’s background. “Having not played football ever — not even in high school — that’s a little bit different,” McDermott said, according to Buffalo Bills reporting cited by SI.com. “That’s a little bit unique, so there’s more work to be done in terms of starting from scratch, from zero, and then trying to build each day.”
Steveson’s first football game of any kind came in the Bills’ 2024 preseason opener. He recorded a tackle and a quarterback pressure across 14 snaps. Over three preseason games, his stat line totaled three tackles and two quarterback hits — a small sample, but a notable one for a player who’d never worn pads before that summer. Buffalo released him before final roster cuts, and he did not appear in a regular-season game.
A New Coach With UFC Championship Pedigree
Steveson now trains under Greg Jackson, the longtime trainer whose past fighters include former UFC champions Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre, Holly Holm, Carlos Condit and Rashad Evans. Jackson has been effusive about Steveson’s ceiling, framing him as an athlete whose talent is still an open question mark for fans tuning in Saturday.
“I’ve worked with most of the greatest fighters to ever do this game and his athletic ability is unprecedented,” Jackson said on UFC Embedded, according to a video posted on the UFC’s YouTube channel. “You need to tune in now to see where the ceiling for this guy is, ’cause he might be redefining what this sport is.”
Jon Jones, who has been closely involved in Steveson’s development, has separately predicted Steveson could contend for the UFC heavyweight title within a few years, according to ESPN. That’s speculation from a training partner and mentor, not a settled outcome — Saturday’s fight is Steveson’s first appearance inside the Octagon, and nothing beyond that is confirmed.
What Steveson’s MMA Record Actually Shows
Steveson turned pro in MMA in September 2025. His three wins have come against Braden Peterson (TKO, LFA 217), Kevin Hein (KO, Anthony Pettis FC) and Hugo Lezama (TKO, Mexico Fight League), combining for just under six minutes of total cage time. All three finishes came in the first round.
| Opponent | Event | Result | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| Braden Peterson | LFA 217 | Win, TKO | 1 |
| Kevin Hein | Anthony Pettis FC 21 | Win, KO | 1 |
| Hugo Lezama | Mexico Fight League 3 | Win, TKO | 1 |
The level of competition is a fair question for a heavyweight prospect this hyped. None of Steveson’s opponents have gone on to string together wins of their own since facing him, and Saturday marks his first test against a fighter with UFC-level experience and an actual UFC roster spot on the line for Ellison as well.
Steveson Embraces the Spotlight
Whatever doubts exist about the level of his competition, Steveson isn’t shying away from the moment. Speaking at UFC Media Day this week, he framed the football chapter as a detour rather than the plan.
“This was always the plan; I should’ve probably started with this plan at first,” Steveson said. “You end up in certain spots. You get into some hiccups and you gotta work your way out of them.”
He was direct about what he wants Saturday night to look like inside T-Mobile Arena, with a card built around the Conor McGregor-Max Holloway rematch expected to draw a loud, high-energy Las Vegas crowd for International Fight Week. “This will be the show that I want it to be,” Steveson said. “It will be the Gable Steveson show. When I walk out there, I hope everyone wants to tune in and wants to see a vicious victory and a dominating performance from me.”
The stakes for Ellison are real, too — a win over a fighter with Steveson’s profile would be the signature victory of his career, and a loss puts him in a familiar spot for opponents drawn against a heavily favored prospect. For Steveson, Saturday is less about the record and more about proving the hype translates against a trained UFC opponent, not a wrestling career serving as a launching pad for the same questions all over again.
