Three days after the historic upset<\/a>, Steveson addressed the loss \u2014 along with the sexual assault allegation from his college years that Sharaf repeatedly referenced during fight week<\/a> \u2014 via social media.<\/p>\n \u201cThis statement is for my family, my friends, my fans, and the people who truly know me and know the kind of man I am,\u201d Steveson wrote. \u201cI know there are people who will never support me, no matter what I say or do. That\u2019s their choice. But I\u2019m speaking to the people who know me not just as an athlete, but as a husband and a father to a young daughter.<\/p>\n \u201cPrior to and during fight week, an incident from my college years was brought up by my opponent,\u201d Steveson continued. \u201cI believe it was raised to get in my head, but it also reopened something that had been addressed years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to be clear: I did not do anything alleged,\u201d he added. \u201cI was never charged with a crime, and the matter was ultimately dropped by the District Attorney. The allegations were not ignored nor brushed aside. They were thoroughly and heavily reviewed as I fully cooperated with law enforcement, including a separate Title IX review.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were no criminal charges, no conviction, and no finding of responsibility against me,\u201d Steveson continued. \u201cThe matter was closed, and there is no pending legal issue involving me. My own attorney did their own investigation and stated on the record that even if the law was changed, I would have the same outcome, which now speaks for itself.<\/p>\n \u201cI understand how serious allegations like this are, and I understand that people may have questions when they hear only part of a story,\u201d he added. \u201cMoving forward, I am going to keep focusing on my wife, my daughter, my family, and the work in front of me. To the people who support me, thank you. I know who I am. My family knows who I am. The people who have walked with me through life know who I am. That\u2019s what matters to me, and that\u2019s where I\u2019m going to keep my focus.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Devil’s Advocate: Gable Steveson Edition<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n After his crushing loss at UFC 331, most pundits think Gable Steveson is either going to spiral out of control and quit MMA (just like his other half-baked pursuits in WWE and NFL) or he will lean in and become the biggest heel and dominate the Heavyweight division.<\/p>\n His association with Jon Jones leaves me to believe he will have no choice but to pursue the latter, regardless of the in-cage results.<\/p>\n What do you think?<\/p>\n For context, Steveson and University of Minnesota wrestling teammate, Dylan Martinez, were arrested in June 2019 on suspicion of criminal sexual conduct after a woman reported that she had been sexually assaulted.<\/p>\n Neither man was formally charged.<\/p>\n Six months later, Hennepin County Attorney, Mike Freeman, announced there was, \u201cinadequate evidence to fairly charge and prosecute\u201d the case. Freeman explained that prosecutors must be able to prove criminal allegations beyond a reasonable doubt, acknowledging that Minnesota\u2019s laws at the time restricted how his office could pursue cases involving intoxication and consent.<\/p>\n Under the law, which has since been updated, a voluntarily intoxicated person did not fall under the state\u2019s definition of, \u201cmentally incapacitated.\u201d Minnesota lawmakers later changed the statute to permit prosecutions involving complainants who became incapacitated through voluntary alcohol consumption, creating what critics frequently called the, \u201cintoxication loophole.\u201d<\/p>\n However, Freeman never said that the legal restriction was the sole reason Steveson and\/or Martinez were not charged. Or, that changing the law would have resulted in charges. Steveson\u2019s attorney, Christa Groshek, maintained his innocence, arguing that a different statute would not have changed the case\u2019s outcome.<\/p>\n And because no charges were ever filed, the allegation was never adjudicated at trial.<\/p>\n Steveson then addressed the catastrophic loss<\/a> that brought his turbulent fight week to an abrupt end.<\/p>\n \u201cAs for my opponent, congratulations, you caught me,\u201d Steveson wrote. \u201cA mistake on my end was made. It was your night. Just like my wrestling days after my loss, I came back with an undeniable will to win and focus that led me to the top of my sport. The result of Saturday night, I believe, will catapult me to do the same. I will be great, and this won\u2019t deny me.\u201d<\/p>\n Steveson also faced heavy criticism for immediately leaving the Octagon without congratulating Sharaf or remaining for the official result. His coach, former UFC Heavyweight champion, Jon Jones, later took responsibility for the controversial exit<\/a>, claiming it was his decision to escort his wounded prospect backstage.<\/p>\n The 26-year-old now owns a 4-1 professional record and remains one of the most decorated wrestlers ever to transition into mixed martial arts (MMA). His physical tools and wrestling resume<\/a> have not disappeared overnight, but after suffering the biggest betting upset in UFC history, the road toward Steveson\u2019s promised greatness suddenly looks much longer.<\/p>\n<\/a>Rec 4CommentsThin Stroke Comment Icon BubbleReplyRead 10 replies<\/p>\n
![\"Tim](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790129774_943_IMG_1018..jpeg\"\/)
<\/a>![\"MMA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790129776_623_logo-mmamania.png\"\/){kind=logo}
For complete UFC 331 results, coverage and highlights click HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gable Steveson has broken his silence. The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) super prospect and Olympic gold medalist suffered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":906048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,33601,638,82,296664,139445,702,7788,264568],"class_list":["post-906047","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","tag-ufc-331","tag-ufc-on-paramount","tag-ufc-news","tag-ufc-results","tag-ufc-mma-social-media-videos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906047","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=906047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/906048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=906047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=906047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=906047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}