Gable Steveson Shows Some Chin in Latest MMA Victory

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Former Minnesota Gophers wrestler Gable Steveson - MMA
Credit: Mark Zaleski / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Since winning Olympic Gold back in 2021 and following that up with a National Championship in in 2022, Minnesota Gophers wrestling legend Gable Steveson has tried his hand at both professional wrestling and professional football.

Both of those non-wrestling side quest, the homegrown phenom athlete failed to make the cut. So, he went back to the U of M, won a bunch more matches and lost one big one, before taking a step back to evaluate the next right move for his career.

Gable Steveson moves to 3-0 in MMA career

In the end, Steveson decided on mixed martial arts, where through three professional matches, he’s quickly developing into the best thing to happen to the MMA heavyweight division since another former Gopher, Brock Lesnar, rose to the top of the UFC nearly two decades ago.

Gable’s latest victory came Thursday night, in the Mexican Fight League (MFL) against the No. 1 fighter in Mexico (according to Tapology), 37-year-old Hugo Lezama, who entered the fight with an 11-3-0 record.

For the third time in three matches, the 2021 Olympic champion knocked his opponent out in the first round. More impressive, though, was the process he went through to get there. During the 3 minute, 50 second bout, Gable Steveson took multiple blows from Lezama and didn’t flinch.

Confirmed: Minnesota Gophers legend has a chin

Those that stand out on tape include a nice leg kick. The one you’ll see all over the internet today is a spinning wheel kick that was delivered squarely on target to the right side of his head 1:30 into the fight.

Once Lezama went to the mat, the match was pretty much over, though he did catch Gable a few times with upkicks while the former Gopher was standing over him that could have been lethal.

But none of it mattered. In fact, all of Lezama’s strikes may as well have been delivered with a foam finger, given how little effect they seemingly had on Steveson.

Gable Steveson is now 3-0 in his professional MMA career with victories in Minnesota, New Mexico and Nuevo Leon, Mexico. He still has plenty of work to do, as he is still raw and needs to get much better at protecting himself.

After the fight, Tapology has Steveson ranked as the No. 145 heavyweight fighter in North America. Hugo Lezama falls to the No. 14 ranked fighter in Central/South America.

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