UFC 329: Gable Steveson post-fight interview

Gable up front. Congratulations to the win. You made the walk to the hallowed UFC octagon. You came out the other side with a stoppage win. What are the emotions like right now? Oh man, I'm having a great time. So much media after, which was not expected. But when you get to a big stage, it's honored to be a part of this. And man, thank you all for coming and thanks for the questions. But man, what a cool thing, you know, go out there on a big card, a lot of pressure, a lot of people waiting to see what can Gable Thiefson do. And I, and I hopefully I delivered to everyone on their TV screen and to everyone who was an average fan that may not know me, knows me now. Came out to nothing but a G-Thing. What was the choice like for you? Was it a tough choice or was that always a song? When I was in college, I was always Big Papa because I was the heavyweight. I was Big Papa, but today I was nothing but a G-Thing because when Gable comes out, it's the biggest G-Thing of all time. What happened with the, the low blow situation was kind of strange because on the replay, it didn't look like it was low, but Mark Goddard kept saying he heard it and that's why he stopped it and even defended when the replay official was like, no, it was, it wasn't there. So how did you handle that situation? How were you able to stay calm? You know, all kudos to Elisa Ellenson. But I think Elisa wanted a break and Mark saw that and was like, Hey, can I give Elisa a break before he gets whooped by Gable Thiefson? And sadly it happened to him. He got his break. He got time to recuperate, but it just had to happen to him. And today wasn't his day. I wanted to ask you about a fellow wrestler turned UFC fighter, Bo Nickel. He had a lot to say about you and your wrestling and all that. And then he wished you luck afterwards. But at first it was like, Hey, if me and Gable to wrestle, I have the game plan. All I got to do is just gas him out like these other opponents. I wanted to get your reaction to what Bo Nickel had to say on. I like, I like Bo Nickel. I didn't mean no harm. Uh, Bo Nickel telling me, telling him, telling me that he's going to gas me out after he got gassed out a couple of fights ago is a crazy thing. So Bo Nickel, I didn't mean no harm. I got to take a shot back at you if you take a shot at me. Um, but we're friends. So, you know, wrestlers always got to stay together. You know, Bo, Bo Nickel is one of the best collegiate wrestlers of all time. And, uh, I hope, uh, I hope he keeps winning and I hope he keeps doing his thing. And I'll always be a fan of his just because wrestling. And then last thing for me, you're obviously putting an influx of energy into this division right now. You're, you're one of the big prospects. Are you looking to return quick or do you just want to sort of enjoy this moment? What you accomplished this whole build to the UFC debut. How are you sort of handling where you go from here today? I'm going to join a moment tomorrow. I'm going to go home and enjoy it with my family. Uh, Monday I go back to work. So if it means some fast and it comes quick, I would love to, but I think, uh, MSG is in November. MSU would be amazing to go out there in Madison square garden. You know, the last time I was in MSG, John Jones spinning back kicks steep. So it would, it would be cool to keep that legacy going to Madison square garden. Okay. Well, I want to tell you, it's funny you mentioned about John's kicks, because if you look at your body shape, I don't think people would expect you to fight the same way as John. And yet tonight I saw switching stances. I saw plenty of like knee stomps and I saw lots of teeps to the body. Is that something they're training you to fight like another John Jones? Or is that just something you feel like you could do as well? No, they're training Gable Stevenson to fight like Gable Stevenson. Just, you know, I got great mentors in my corner though. So, um, you know, with the athleticism that I have, I can pull off a lot of things that John did, but with the height that I have, um, my explosiveness can, can get me to that point to close that distance a lot. So, um, John shows me what John knows best. He knows how he knows my body style. He knows what I can, he can do. And he knows what I, what I'm going to do, because I don't think there's anything I can't do. There's a lot of talk about UFC jitters, right? Oh, you can fight in the regional scene, but when you get here, it didn't seem like an issue tonight. Is that why you're already making your calls for the big moments? Like, okay, so Connor card MSG is the next big thing, right? Is that what you want? You want to pick these big moments to heighten your profile as quickly as possible? You know, I, when I came out, I felt the crowd. And then when I walked into the octagon, I felt like I was, I was supposed to be here. You know, when you, there was no scary scariness, there was no big nerves. It was just the anxious to go out there and beat Elisa Ellison. So, you know, big moments are meant for me. It's just none but a G. He asked you about another wrestler. So I'm going to have to do the same thing. Josh Hokett had some responses to some of the comments you made and basically said that this isn't wrestling. If you know, like I said, I like Josh is a fighter. Josh is a character. Josh wants to make sure people follow him on Instagram and follow him on Twitter. I go out there and dominate. I go out there and win. Um, so if the time comes with Josh, if he doesn't move down before that, so be it, we'll make it happen. But right now, like I said, today, I'll enjoy this victory Monday. I'll be back in the gym. I'll wait for my next call and hopefully it's MSG. And if it isn't, we'll be back before that. Today, I mean, Alicia wasn't going out without a fight and I feel like it forced you to showcase a bit of different parts of your game, a wide variety today. Do you feel like you showed a lot from your game to the people or is there something that you feel like you wanted to leave showing tonight that you couldn't? I think I showed a lot to the people, but I also think there's so much more to show. Um, Alicia, I knew he wasn't going to give up, but I knew if you hit Elisa Ellison hard from all of his videos that he would fall. And when I hit him hard after a couple good jabs and a couple good body shots, you saw that he wanted the breaks. He wanted to circle the cage. He wanted to make sure that he got away from me. So I respect him for coming in and taking this match. He believed in himself wholeheartedly. And as I believe myself too. So, um, I thank him. I respect him as an opponent. Um, and hopefully he goes back to his family healthy and gets to see his, uh, his son in a great way when he goes back home and hopefully there's no problems with him after that. And it's not every day we see, you know, that type of variety from, you know, especially heavyweights with the record you have in terms of professional fights. So what else do you attribute that to apart from obviously the team you train with and all of that, just a, just a great team, a great, great athlete that can go out there and mix it up. A guy that's a sponge that wants to soak it all in and be the best he possibly can. A guy that listens and is all ears and all eyes and, and just wants to be better for himself and wants to take care of the people who's around them. Hey Gable back here. Uh, Gable. So obviously, you know, you're in that fight, you take a few shots, he defends the takedown. Obviously you train, it's not always going to be, you know, going one way traffic. How proud were you of the way you handled maybe a bit of that adversity that a lot of us maybe didn't expect in that fight? You know, uh, you know, it's going to happen. It's a fight. You're going to get hit. Maybe I take a big hit, but you saw I bounced right back and I got right in his face as I should. Um, you know, the first, the first shot I took was just to get a feeler out for him, see what he was going to do, see how he would defend. I wanted to shock his nervous system to kind of make sure that he, he knew he was in for a fight. You know, if you, if you see a lot of, uh, John Jones fights, he goes out there and in the first 30 seconds he pushes you to make sure, you know, he's going to, you're going to fight him. So he defended my takedown. Great job. But if I shot two more, he wasn't going to defend those. Obviously very few things are probably going to ever be bigger than competing for Olympic gold, but if you were to compare, what would you say was different about your first UFC fight compared to a big stage like that? You know, the Olympics is always the Olympics. You know, I know, I know many guys will trade the UFC belt for Olympic champion, uh, Olympic gold medal. Um, but today was a great rush today. It was a bigger rush in the Olympics. Um, and, and, and as part of USC being the biggest promotion out there. So I'm a, I'm happy to be here. Uh, obviously there was a lot of attention, but did it even surprise you? I mean, they have the Gable Steveson shirt already on sale at the UFC store, things like that. You knew that there was going to be a lot of attention, but were you even surprised just, Hey, like they're already making a, you know, showing you that they're invested. Uh, you know, uh, rightfully so as my performance shows today, I hope they invest into me. I hope they understand that there's a, there's a new face in the heavyweight division. I hope they see that there's a athletic gifted, hardworking male that's in front of them. That's going to go out there and dominate. Um, and today was just step one of that, but, um, I didn't know they made shirts. So that's kind of cool. Um, if someone could give me one, that'd be very nice. Just right here. Uh, first congratulation for the gold medal as a wrestling fan. I have a few questions for you. We saw John tell you, tell you something right before you step in the cage. Can you share us, uh, what he was with us? And at the end of the fight, we saw you share something with DC and, uh, I'm interesting of, uh, what was his, uh, Olympic discretion. Yeah. Um, so if you can, uh, as people know, I'm a big DC fan also. And I went over to him and I said, uh, I didn't need it. Hey, I told him, uh, I told him no, no takedowns are necessary for this win. And he congratulated me. As you know, DC is a big wrestler, just like me. Um, a guy that goes out there and can shoot a lot of shots. Um, just like myself also. So I went up to him and I said, Hey, um, I showed you a little bit of what a lot can be. And as time goes on, I'll take those shots and take guys down and make sure they stay down. You make the transition. Uh, we see, we see you, uh, win with a knockout in Europe, especially sometimes like, um, when there is a wrestling into a game, um, a match people book cause they didn't know really what it is. I think in some countries, uh, may making wrestling more entertaining. Is it was, was, was, is that one of your plan or motivation as well? No, I would, I would love to wrestle and I love wrestling. Everybody knows I'm the Olympic champion from USA that that is the first heavyweight champion in 20 some years. Um, so it was cool to go out there and, and, and showcase some hands, but you know, wrestling by far is still the hardest sport on this earth. Um, it's, it's a great sport. Real America freestyles doing the best they possibly can. They just got done in Tbilisi, Georgia. They're going to go to Moscow, which hopefully I can wrestle on a Moscow card in September and uh, just keep things moving. But wrestling has always been my life. That was my last question. Can you tell the people how hard it is to, to became like Olympic champion in wrestling? Cause we saw a quote of DC explaining that. But uh, if we can hear that from you, Olympic champion is the biggest caliber you can get in wrestling. You know, wrestling, you don't get money, you don't get fame, you don't get popularity. You get the glory being Olympic champion. So, um, it was cool for me because somehow I worked my way to being, um, a big name in the sport of wrestling that people looked at to say, Hey, I want my kids to wrestle like Gable Stevenson. And, and people to this day still tell me I was up at 4am watching Olympic max matches. And I woke my, I woke my kids up cause I was screaming. So it was a, it's a cool thing, but man, shout out to Olympic wrestling, United wrestling and many other people. Last one for me, I have to ask, I'm French, so it's my duty to ask you that. Is Cyril Gann one of your goal, like one of your targets? Cyril Gann is a great fighter, great fighter, fantastic fighter. He's one of my favorite fighters in heavyweight division. Um, of course he's a target. He has, he has something that a lot of people want and, but today I'll take my win. I'll take my victory and I keep moving it slow. Um, I'm not, Cyril Gann is not in the, he's in the foreseeable future, but he's not in the next fight. And I'll worry about the next fight. And then after that, I'll worry about the next one. Thank you very much. Gable. I know you've been doing a lot of media since the fight. Uh, I'm sure you've had a chance to talk to John a little bit. What's that discussion been like? Uh, again, you were a big favorite going in tonight. You went and got the first round win. Imagine John's got to be happy with that. I haven't even been able to talk to John cause I've been talking to y'all all day. So, but when we get done with this, I'm going to talk to John, but I'm sure he's going to have some wise words, but he's smart. He's intelligent. He's going to have words of how we can get better. And that's why he's in my corner. Yeah. And it's not just performing in the cage. It's also the promotional side of things to get, you know, attention and fights and all that. Uh, what do you make a Josh Hogan's whole stick? Yeah. I know you've been asked about him, but I don't know if you've actually been asked about like how he goes about promoting himself. Are you a fan of it? Oh, he does a great job. Good for him. Okay. Do you, do you feel that pressure though, to promote as well? Not just performing the cage, but also hype up fights and all that. Is that something on your mind, especially coming from WWE? No, when I walked in, I was Gable Steveson. They knew who I was. Yeah. Fair enough. And just last one for me, we saw the speed in the, in the cage tonight. Um, how, how would you say your speed compares to some of the top heavyweights? Cause you look pretty fast out there. You know, a lot of guys are fast. A lot of guys that are technical, you know, I'm a fast athletic male that can go out there and, and, and get into certain spots that a lot of other heavyweights can, especially the taller ones. So I think my, my fair is going to be really great. Congrats on the win. Thank you. Gable back here. You and Bo nickel are obviously like amazing wrestlers that have earned their platforms in the UFC. Who do you have any names of wrestlers that could be next that the UFC is going to push in the future? Man, I would love David Carter to wrestle. I would love Aaron Brooks to wrestle, um, Bo Bassett, um, maybe Carter Starocchi, maybe a few other guys that come over here and maybe Kyle Schneider, Abdul Rasheed sat alive. There's so many great wrestlers out there that a lot of people do not know, but I think they're starting to know because real American freestyle. So hopefully the names get out there. Hopefully they make the change and, uh, hopefully they like it. Awesome. And one more for me, obviously you've had a lot of celebrity duties. You got to throw out the first pitch at Texas Rangers game. I believe you were there. What's been your coolest experience so far? Like that the UFC has brought to you. I think the coolest experience UFC has brought to me is, you know, just, just being myself and being alive. You know, a lot of people take that for granted. A lot of people take, uh, getting food on our plate for granted, you know, having nice shoes, having nice clothes. Um, I have a, I have a very nice watch on now, but it doesn't mean none. Um, I'm just a regular human being that somehow made it to a crazy spot that a lot of people should be influenced by and inspired by. Um, so I'm not a celebrity. I mean, I'm a human being that, that wants to have other people look at me as a human being, but for 15 minutes, I'll be a showtime. I'll be a star. But other than that, I'm just a regular guy on the street.