\n<\/p>\n
Heavyweight Gable Steveson entered the UFC to much fanfare thanks to his Olympic and collegiate wrestling pedigree, having won gold in 2020 at the Tokyo Olympics, and twice capturing a NCAA Division I championship.<\/p>\n
The wrestling, in other words, is always right there. The takedown always waiting to be had. So how does Steveson (4-0) resist the temptation to take the easy path the victory in training? Focus.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is always right there when we\u2019re training, but I feel like I try to focus on the hands, the kicks, the elbows, the knees, and make sure I can adapt to every style. I know I can wrestle, I know I can go out there and take a guy down and keep him down, but the best thing is, you can\u2019t just go in there and shoot. The guys are too good now,\u201d Steveson told Cageside Press in an exclusive interview this week. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to go out there and set it up now, you\u2019ve got to punch, you\u2019ve got to kick to set it up, you\u2019ve got to fake. You\u2019ve got to do a lot of things to make them react. That\u2019s what I\u2019ve been focusing on, and I\u2019m excited to show it on Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s plenty of fantasy matchmaking going on with Gable Steveson among the MMA fanbase. Steveson vs. Lewis. Steveson vs. Hokit. Steveson vs. Gane. Many see him as a future champion, but he\u2019s taking it \u201cone day at a time,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
Tuning out all the noise means making sure \u201cyou\u2019re staying ten toes to the ground,\u201d Steveson added. \u201cUnderstand who you are, understand what your capabilities are. And when that time comes, we\u2019ll make sure we\u2019re most definitely ready. But a lot of people want to make fantasy match-ups right now, and that\u2019s okay. But when that time comes, we\u2019ll most definitely be ready, when our fantasies become reality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steveson has trained with the WWE, and no doubt worked on his skills on the mic. But don\u2019t expect to hear a lot of trash talk out of him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never been a really a showman, a talker. I\u2019ve never been a bad talker about people, I\u2019ve never really tried to make fun of anybody. I\u2019m going to go out there and speak with confidence about myself, I let people know who I am and who I\u2019m going to be, and they respect that. And if they don\u2019t respect that, you\u2019ve still got to watch, you\u2019ve still got to pay attention to the match. At the end of the day, I can get on the microphone and speak in the most proper way, I can get on there and speak in the worst way. It\u2019s not going to make a difference, because my winning\u2019s going to do the talking.\u201d<\/p>\n