Gable Steveson fired back at Craig Jones.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Steveson and Jones were supposed to face each other in a grappling match at the Craig Jones Invitational 2, until the Olympic gold medalist withdrew from the event on fight week due to a case of turf toe. Of course injuries happen, but with Steveson only withdrawing from the grappling match and not his MMA debut just a couple weeks later, Jones took the whole thing personally, ripping Steveson for pulling out<\/a>.<\/p>\n Despite Jones\u2019s attacks, Steveson stayed silent, until an appearance with Ariel Helwani<\/a>, where he affirmed that he did withdraw from CJI 2 due to turf toe, but also added that Jones wanted some \u201cfunky stipulations\u201d even beforehand that had him uneasy.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a look in the eye of saying, \u2018Hey, can you do something for me?\u2019 And that\u2019s about all,\u201d Steveson said. \u201cI\u2019m trying to keep it as nice as possible. Because when I came out of that match and had turf toe \u2014 I wrestled the whole NCAA season with turf toe \u2026 when it came back, I was like, I can\u2019t have another mishap of me falling to someone in a way that\u2019s not possible. So that\u2019s why I had to pull out.<\/p>\n \u201cBut before that, if you really want to know, there was a look in the eye of saying, \u2018Hey, I\u2019m going to retire after this match, I don\u2019t want to take this loss, can you do this for me?\u2019 And we\u2019ll leave it as that. \u2026<\/p>\n \u201cYes [he asked me to lose on purpose],\u201d Steveson later confirmed when asked directly.<\/p>\n Steveson won the gold medal at the 2020 Olympic Games at just 21 years old, becoming the youngest freestyle wrestler to win Olympic gold at super heavyweight. After a foray into professional wrestling and football, Steveson returned to his wrestling roots, but lost in the finals of the 2025 NCAA championship in a major upset. With that on his mind, Steveson was not open adding another loss to his resume.<\/p>\n Jones obviously made no mention of any such thing when he gave his perspective on Steveson\u2019s withdrawal, though he did say when they spoke it was \u201cabout going in there with a friendly, fun, grow the sport sort of energy\u201d and perhaps not as focused on competition. But from Steveson\u2019s perspective, this was about the competition of it when they first booked the match.<\/p>\n \u201cI was looking at an exciting match,\u201d Steveson said. \u201cI was looking at a match where we were going to go out there and sell tickets for and go out there and put on a good show. Eventually the question did come along. We sat, we thought, we disagreed, we went back to them as time got closer, just popped up with a bad injury, and had to focus on my next thing. My next thing is putting the gloves on and making sure I can take care of what I need to take care of.\u201d<\/p>\n And apparently what needed to be taken care of was a parting shot at Jones, because though Steveson says he harbors no ill will towards him, he nonetheless took a swipe at Jones when discussing why he\u2019s held his tongue this long.<\/p>\n \u201cI personally did not have any ill intention with pulling out of this match,\u201d Steveson reiterated. \u201cMy foot, what do you want me to do? Do you want me to go out there and just limp around and not look good for anybody and make sure everything just runs down a hill that it doesn\u2019t need to run down?<\/p>\n \u201cI stayed quiet because I\u2019m a man. I\u2019m not going to go out there and speak bad about somebody because something\u2019s wrong or something didn\u2019t go my way. I look at things in a different way. Maybe he doesn\u2019t because he hasn\u2019t accomplished anything in his field. He\u2019s lost to Gordon Ryan about 3-4 times, his team, the B-Team won the Craig Jones Invitational, but probably shouldn\u2019t have, so that\u2019s a weird thing too. So I think he\u2019s got a lot more digging than worrying about me.\u201d<\/p>\n Steveson went on to win his MMA debut this past weekend, stopping his opponent in just 98 seconds<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jones responded on Instagram.<\/p>\n Politics. Conor McGregor drops out of presidential race<\/a> in Ireland, promises political ambitions still exist.<\/p>\n Automobile. Jared Gordon details how he was hit by a car<\/a> a day before Noche UFC.<\/p>\n Bud. \u2018He\u2019s nowhere near on the level of Conor McGregor: Terence Crawford fires back<\/a> at Ilia Topuria\u2019s callout.<\/p>\n Main Event. Anthony Hernandez out, Reinier de Ridder now faces<\/a> Brendan Allen at UFC Vancouver.<\/p>\n Title Fight. Aljamain Sterling calls out Diego Lopes for title eliminator<\/a> following Noche UFC.<\/p>\n Dean of Mean. Keith Jardine reveals how he risked everything<\/a> to become a filmmaker after his fighting career ended.<\/p>\n MVP. Michael \u2018Venom\u2019 Page reveals he asked to face<\/a> Michael Morales after missing out on Carlos Prates fight.<\/p>\n Michael Bisping reacts to Noche UFC.<\/p>\n Israel Adesanya reacts to Canelo-Crawford.<\/p>\n Were the Fighting Nerds fraud checked?<\/p>\n SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE<\/p>\n Reinier de Ridder (21-2) vs. Brendan Allen (25-7); UFC Vancouver, Oct. 18.<\/p>\n Terence Crawford is the best boxer I\u2019ve ever seen. That is all.<\/p>\n If you find something you\u2019d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @AlexanderKlee<\/a> or @JedKMeshew<\/a> on Twitter and let us know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Twitter<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, TikTok<\/a>, and like us on Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n