{"id":491045,"date":"2026-02-19T22:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T22:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/491045\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T22:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T22:15:08","slug":"gable-steveson-raises-eyebrows-in-claiming-he-can-already-compete-with-alex-pereira-tom-aspinall-after-3-mma-fights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/491045\/","title":{"rendered":"Gable Steveson raises eyebrows in claiming he can already &#8216;compete&#8217; with Alex Pereira, Tom Aspinall after 3 MMA fights"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson believes he could compete with the UFC\u2019s top heavyweights just three fights into his MMA career.<\/p>\n<p>Gable Steveson\u2019s young MMA career is one of the most intriguing storylines of combat sports in 2026. As Steveson prepares to fight in his third MMA bout <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/gable-steveson\/gable-steveson-thinks-hell-live-up-to-high-expectations-for-mma-heavyweight-run-we-are-trained-for-pressure\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">on Thursday night at Mexican Fight League 3<\/a>, the Olympic gold medalist\u2019s hype continues to skyrocket.<\/p>\n<p>Steveson, a top protege of Jon Jones\u2019, could potentially get a call from UFC CEO Dana White and the matchmakers for a shot in the promotion in the coming months. White and Joe Rogan have repeatedly touted Steveson\u2019s vast potential in the cage.<\/p>\n<p>Steveson is regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers in history, after winning multiple NCAA titles and an Olympic gold medal. If he eventually gets a shot to compete in the UFC\u2019s heavyweight division, his elite wrestling will be a matchup nightmare for many top contenders.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the relatively small sample size in the cage, Steveson believes he belongs in the same discussion as Alex Pereira, Tom Aspinall, and Ciryl Gane when discussing the top light heavyweights\/heavyweights in the world.<\/p>\n<p>Gable Steveson says he can already \u2018compete\u2019 with top UFC heavyweights<\/p>\n<p>In a recent interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/VRbFCCNvfEA?si=roqmLOwIdAck0Yhy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Submission Radio<\/a>, Steveson compared himself with two of the top fighters in the UFC.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose three big names \u2014 Pereira, Aspinall, Gane \u2014 I can compete with most definitely,\u201d Steveson said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEspecially right now. But if you keep giving me time, the gap will keep coming in with the youthfulness that I have, with those guys being a little older. Tom is a little older, but Pereira, (much) older. Gane, (much) older.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs time goes on, you don\u2019t get any faster.\u201d (h\/t <a href=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/2026\/02\/19\/gable-steveson-claims-he-can-already-compete-with-tom-aspinall-and-alex-pereira-in-the-ufc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Bloody Elbow<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>How would Gable Steveson fare against some of the top light heavyweights and heavyweights in the UFC? Let us know in the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson believes he could compete with the UFC\u2019s top heavyweights just three fights into&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491046,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[11159,64,63,29968,786,61781,785,85,799,787],"class_list":{"0":"post-491045","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-alex-pereira","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-ciryl-gane","12":"tag-fighting","13":"tag-gable-steveson","14":"tag-mma","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-tom-aspinall","17":"tag-ufc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}