{"id":615332,"date":"2026-04-19T22:44:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T22:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/615332\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T22:44:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T22:44:07","slug":"dana-white-seeks-right-fight-for-gable-stevesons-ufc-329-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/615332\/","title":{"rendered":"Dana White seeks &#8216;right fight&#8217; for Gable Steveson&#8217;s UFC 329 debut"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Updated April 19, 2026, 5:21 p.m. ET<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Dana White still hasn&#8217;t determined who Gable Steveson will face in his highly anticipated octagon debut at <a href=\"http:\/\/mmajunkie.usatoday.com\/events\/ufc-329\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">UFC 329.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Olympic gold medalist Steveson (3-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will step on to MMA&#8217;s biggest stage in just his fourth professional fight when he competes at the UFC&#8217;s 14th annual International Fight Week on July 11 in Las Vegas (<a href=\"https:\/\/paramountplus.qflm.net\/6yoorr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" data-v-afl=\"\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Paramount+<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The 25-year-old has shown glimpses of brilliance of his young combat career and is promising the <a href=\"http:\/\/mmajunkie.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/ufc\/2026\/04\/13\/ufc-gable-steveson-statement-ready-biggest-debut-on-earth-mma-wrestling-free-agent-signing-debut\/89585984007\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;biggest debut on earth&#8221;<\/a> at UFC 329. The question of who will be standing across from him in the cage, however, still remains a mystery.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">With some already clamouring to see Steveson thrust into the upper tier of the heavyweight division from the outset, the quality of Steveson&#8217;s debut opponent will be much-discussed. It doesn&#8217;t appear that UFC CEO White is looking to throw him in the deep end right away, though.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;CM Punk fought here\u00a0\u2013 we&#8217;ll find somebody,&#8221; White told reporters at Saturday&#8217;s UFC Fight Night 273 post-fight new conference in Canada. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know if we go after a top 15 guy. I say this to you guys all the time: The UFC jitters are real. I don&#8217;t care how you&#8217;ve competed or where or what you&#8217;ve done. When you come here, it&#8217; a different level.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;Our matchmakers are the best in the business. We&#8217;ll figure him out and get him the right fight. When I say that, I mean at what we think his level is, and what we think he&#8217;s capable of.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Steveson is currently training alongside UFC legend Jon Jones in advance of his upcoming fight. The American last competed in MMA on Feb. 19 with a first-round TKO of Hugo Lezama at MFL 3 in Mexico.<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"gnt_em_cp_cw_i\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" data-gl-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/84405559007-dana-white-mxf-12-36-27-07-still-001.jpg\" data-gl- decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated April 19, 2026, 5:21 p.m. ET Dana White still hasn&#8217;t determined who Gable Steveson will face in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[159202,49,48,641,638,82,160714,160715,172234,231336,159087,159088,159089,160783,231337,159085],"class_list":{"0":"post-615332","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-fighting","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-sstssportsufc","15":"tag-sstsnufc","16":"tag-tagdana-white","17":"tag-taggable-steveson","18":"tag-tagmartial-arts","19":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","20":"tag-tagsports-news","21":"tag-tagufc","22":"tag-tagufc-329","23":"tag-typestory"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615332","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=615332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}