{"id":419377,"date":"2026-01-19T14:28:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T14:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/419377\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T14:28:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T14:28:07","slug":"gable-steveson-headed-to-mexico-for-next-mma-match-in-february","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/419377\/","title":{"rendered":"Gable Steveson headed to Mexico for next MMA match in February"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Olympic gold medalist and two-time NCAA Division I wrestler Gable Steveson has locked up another fight, his fourth in just five months.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Steveson is set to fight 11-3 heavyweight Hugo \u201cPandemonium\u201d Lezama at a Mexico Fight League event on Thursday, February 19th in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, just across the border from Texas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Lezama is the toughest test Steveson has faced in his short career, which currently consists of two MMA bouts and one <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/latest-news\/402700\/one-step-closer-to-ufc-gable-steveson-books-mma-return-for-nov-23-in-jon-jones-backyard\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dirty Boxing fight.<\/a> All three of those fights ended via KO or TKO early in the first round, setting the stage for Steveson to get hyped up as a potential <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/latest-news\/407199\/joe-rogan-warns-ufcs-talent-starved-heavyweight-division-that-gable-steveson-is-coming-everyones-f-ked\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">future MMA champion.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">When you look at the records of his three past opponents \u2014 1-0, 4-2, and 2-1-1 \u2014 you realize it may be a little too early to guarantee UFC gold in Gable\u2019s future. But his team (which involves <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/latest-news\/391360\/coach-jon-jones-promises-championship-gold-for-gable-steveson-i-found-my-guy\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">UFC GOAT Jon Jones)<\/a> is doing a good job of bringing him up. His opponents have had reasonable records considering Steveson himself was 0-0 prior to September 2025. And now they\u2019re giving him an 11-3 opponent. Yes, two of those loses did come in his last three fights, but Lezama\u2019s record isn\u2019t that of a journeyman can.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">You get the feeling that if it was up to Steveson himself, he\u2019d already be signing a UFC contract. Matchmaker Mick Maynard was in the crowd for his last knockout win, and Gable <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/ufc-news\/399824\/gable-steveson-calls-for-ufc-deal-after-first-round-dbx-knockout-id-love-to-show-a-lot-more\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">called for a deal.<\/a> But as is the case with most top prospects these days, we expect Steveson to go through the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/latest-news\/382020\/best-contender-series-fighters-from-each-season-ranked\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dana White Contender Series<\/a> pipeline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">That could leave him testing his mettle in the minors until August, which is when past Contender Series seasons have started. But with White teasing more of the show on new broadcast partner Paramount+, maybe we could see Gable sign a UFC contract sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">First, he\u2019ll have to get past Hugo Lezama in Mexico next month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Olympic gold medalist and two-time NCAA Division I wrestler Gable Steveson has locked up another fight, his fourth&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,33601,638,82],"class_list":["post-419377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fighting","tag-latest-ufc-mma-news","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}