LFA may find itself to be an MMA trivia question over the next several years as the promotional home for Gable Steveson’s mixed martial arts debut, and they hope to get another fight out of the Olympic gold medalist before he heads to the UFC.
Steveson made his long-awaited MMA debut this past September at LFA 217, stopping Braden Peterson in just 98 seconds. While the Minnesota wrestling standout had another MMA fight and a Dirty Boxing bout, and is likely heading to the UFC sooner rather than later, LFA CEO Ed Soares was asked about the chances Steveson could make another stop in the LFA cage before graduating to the world’s premiere MMA organization.
“I do believe we’ll see Gable again,” Soares told MMA Fighting. “At least that’s the plan and that’s what we’re working on, and I believe that will happen. And Gable, No. 1, what a gentleman. What a great guy, and what a competitor, and what an athlete. I tell people all the time, when you are an Olympic gold medalist, you have a different frame of mind. You look at some of the Olympic gold medalists and you see what they’ve accomplished — you look at the Kayla Harrisons, you look at the Henry Cejudos, and then you look at Gable, and it’s just like, I mean, the determination and the mindset you have to have, and to be honest, the athleticism that Gable Stevenson has.
“So it’s absolutely incredible. It’s an honor. It was a true honor to have him make his debut in the LFA I’m extremely grateful that we were able to make that happen, extremely grateful to him because where he made his MMA debut is like eight miles from where he grew up in Prior Lake, Minn. … So what a cool thing, you got this Olympic gold medalist, the guy who wrestled for Minnesota, all these things, and he made his debut within 10 miles of where he grew up. It just worked. Everything fell in place.”
LFA recently signed a brand new linear television deal in the U.S. with Vice TV, which will host 25 events throughout 2025. Soares recently told MMA Fighting the deal was part of a “three-pronged process,” that will eventually include International broadcast rights, along with digital distribution in the U.S. when deals are finalized.
The new deal with Vice TV kicks off this Friday with LFA 224 at 9 p.m. ET.
Soares has seen a lot of hype around his promotion when it came to certain fighters competing on their cards, but admits that Steveson’s debut was probably the event that saw the most buzz he can remember.
“No, I mean, I‘ve got to tell you, the hype and the press that we got, and like I said, just to be able to have someone of that caliber [was incredible],” Soares explained. “Honestly, that wasn’t our first Olympic gold medalist that we’ve had, because Henry Cejudo started his career with Legacy so [the buzz] was there, but this one was different. I think it was different.
“Not taking anything away from Cejudo. Cejudo, No. 1, he’s a guy that I like a lot. He’s a great human being, I get along great with him. He’s a buddy of mine, and I’ve got to tell you, Gable is just such a – outside of being such a phenomenal fighter – he’s just a great guy.”
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