Gable Steveson is arguably the biggest American prospect in the sport. However, his career may not pan out as expected if he continues his journey with Jon Jones, according to fellow Olympian-turned-MMA fighter Daniel Cormier.
Despite already winning gold in the NCAA Division I Championships, the Pan American Championships, and the Olympic Games, among many other competitions, Steveson is just 25 years old. Having achieved what he has at such a young age, it’s no surprise that all eyes are focused on his development since transitioning to mixed martial arts.
Gable Steveson has been training extensively with Jon Jones and has already begun showing signs of improvement. The wrestling phenom has developed a standup game, knocking out each of the first three opponents of his hand-to-hand combat career, with one of those coming in the Dirty Boxing ring.
With years ahead of him, Steveson has all the makings of a future title challenger under the UFC banner. Venturing out of his comfort zone and focusing on the striking aspect of the game will be a significant benefit to the heavyweight, insists Daniel Cormier.
“I believe he has a chance [of becoming UFC champion],” Cormier said about Steveson’s future in the sport. “I believe he has a real chance to be a world champion.”
“I do believe that him doing Dirty Boxing, where he essentially takes away his greatest skill, and the willingness to do that bodes well to him becoming a world champion.”
While it looks like Gable Steveson is on the right track to superstardom, Cormier believes that may never materialize under Jon Jones’ guidance.
“I believe that there are some other factors that may slow down [his development]. Well, his coach is Jon Jones. I think that as long as he lets the other coaches coach him, yes.”
“But if he is like, if Jon is actually coaching him, I don’t know if he’ll [reach those heights].”
Nobody questions Jon Jones’ ability inside the cage; it’s what he does outside of it that is a cause for concern.
Jones was unable to stay out of trouble for a large portion of his time under the spotlight, but Daniel Cormier doesn’t believe those bad traits will be inherited by Gable Steveson.
“I don’t think that Gable’s ever going to fall into the trap of making the mistakes. And honestly, after spending all the time with Jon in Thailand, he’s different today than he was back then.”
“He’s not that same person that he was back when him and I were going through all of our stuff.”
Related: Jon Jones set to face Daniel Cormier as MMA return draws near
Not denying his quality as a fighter, Daniel Cormier later pointed out the one glaring difference between Jon Jones’ style of coaching compared to that of his good friend and former training partner, Khabib Nurmagomedov.
“You know what Khabib is and why he’s such a great coach?” Cormier continued. “Khabib is the most selfless person you’ve ever met. He can put his athletes above himself, in front of him, in everything that he does.”
“In order to be a great coach, you cannot have an ego. You have to become secondary to everyone that you coach. And Jon, he’s still on the roster. He’s an active fighter.”
“I don’t know if he can be as giving and selfless to make Gable the true star of the show. You’ve got to make your athlete the star of the show…”
“You’ve got to be selfless. I watched Khabib spend a lot of time away from his family to be with those guys, to make sure they’re ready. And I don’t know, I just don’t know that that’s Jon.”
