{"id":484060,"date":"2026-02-18T23:45:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T23:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/484060\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T23:45:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T23:45:08","slug":"gable-steveson-hugo-lezama-face-off-at-mfl-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/484060\/","title":{"rendered":"Gable Steveson, Hugo Lezama face off at MFL 3"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Unlike one of his staredowns last year \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/boxing\/399610\/face-off-gable-steveson-stares-down-and-shoves-billy-swanson-ahead-of-dbx-4-video\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">when Steveson got physical<\/a> \u2014 this encounter was intense but respectful. The two Heavyweights locked eyes but kept it professional as cameras flashed ahead of fight night.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Steveson (2-0) kicks off his 2026 campaign after a tremendous 2025 that saw him compete three times, including two mixed martial arts (MMA) bouts. He made his professional debut at LFA 217, stopping Braden Peterson in under two minutes (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/latest-news\/388817\/impressed-gable-steveson-destroys-outmatched-heavyweight-slug-in-official-mma-debut-lfa-217-video-knockout\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">watch highlights<\/a>). The Olympic gold medalist then briefly paused his MMA run for a one-off Dirty Boxing match, flattening Billy Swanson in just 15 seconds (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/bare-knuckle-boxing-results-rules-ppv\/381572\/highlights-gable-steveson-annihilates-billy-swanson-in-just-15-seconds-celebrates-with-coach-jon-jones-dbx-4\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">watch highlights<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">He capped his rookie campaign with a 24-second knockout of Kevin Hein, landing a brutal left hook before planting his already-unconscious opponent with a double-leg takedown (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/regional-mma-news-results\/405606\/highlights-gable-steveson-crushes-kevin-hein-in-just-24-seconds-at-apfc-21\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">watch highlights<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">For Lezama (11-3), this marks the biggest opportunity of his career, but he\u2019s also the toughest test for Steveson. He\u2019s won four of his last five fights \u2014 all by stoppage \u2014 with his lone defeat coming against Emiliano Sordi, a former PFL champion and Contender Series veteran.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlike one of his staredowns last year \u2014 when Steveson got physical \u2014 this encounter was intense but&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484061,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,50911,33601,638,22248,82,702,3194],"class_list":["post-484060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fighting","tag-international-mma-news-results","tag-latest-ufc-mma-news","tag-mma","tag-regional-mma-news-results","tag-sports","tag-ufc-news","tag-videos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484060","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=484060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}