American heavyweight Gable Steveson was tipped to become the UFC’s next superstar – instead the Olympic gold medallist has been widely slammed after suffering one of the greatest upsets in UFC history.
Despite entering last Sunday’s UFC 331 event as the shortest priced favourite anywhere on the card — and by some margin — Steveson was finished only 12 seconds into his bout with Sean Sharaf.
In crazy scenes that sent the Los Angeles, California crowd into a frenzy, Sharaf delivered a brutal left hand to finish the man being hailed the heavyweight division’s next champion, and a protégé of no less than UFC GOAT Jon Jones.
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Then to make things worse for Steveson, the previously undefeated prodigy, once recovered from his KO, then left the cage before Sharaf was announced as victor by UFC ring announcer Bruce Buffer.
Immediately, social media went into meltdown, with fans, fighters and MMA analysts all criticising not only Steveson’s loss, but his behaviour in the aftermath.
Among the critics were Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier, with several more UFC fighters also taking aim on social media.
Then on Monday, Team Steveson also released a statement, and compared their fighter to some of the sport’s biggest names.
Writing on ‘X’ immediately after the finish, UFC light heavyweight Dustin Jocoby said: “Wtf is this Gable guy walking out of the octagon early for?! Make his ass stand there like everyone else @ufc. That’s some downright b/s if you ask me. Lost all respect for that dude too.”
UFC middleweight Julian Marquez added: “Why is Gabe leaving the cage before his opponent raised his hand?”
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Certainly, it was a question being asked everywhere.
“I think Gable made some mistakes in there,” Cormier said after the card’s conclusion later that night.
“You’re a four-zero fighter. Wrestle. You have to. Also, you stand there and you take your licks whenever you lose. You let that man get his hand raised and you stand there no matter how you feel.
“If you’re concussed, cry — I did it. There’s the truth. But you take your licking whenever stuff [doesn’t go your way]. You cannot be a great winner but then an ungrateful loser and I think that was bad by Steveson.”
Soon after, Cormier continued of Steveson: “The reality is he’s new to this and Sharaf had no respect for him. Gable’s an Olympic champion and maybe people expect other people to respect that but they’re not going to.
“Sharaf was not having any of it. He went in there to knock Gable Steveson out and he did.“
Rogan, meanwhile, suggested Steveson had become a victim of his own hype, saying the 26-year-old was convinced he would simply walk through a rival who had lost both Octagon appearances since joining the UFC.
“I think the odds and the hype got to his head and he felt he couldn’t be beaten,” Rogan said.
“He stood there flat-footed and Sean just uncorked a picture-perfect left hook. He dipped and then hooked and caught him on the chin. The chin, the head snaps back. Out cold.
“It was one of the greatest storybook, Cinderella stories. It has to be without a doubt the biggest odds ever.”
Meanwhile, Steveson’s manager released a statement on Monday morning regarding what is now one of the greatest upsets in UFC history, with his client a whopping -2400 favourite with Las Vegas oddsmakers.
Responding to the loss, Abe Kawa compared the Olympic gold medalist to the likes of Arman Tsarukyan, Islam Makhachev, Georges St-Pierre, and more.
“It’s OK that Gable got caught,” Kawa wrote on Instagram.
“It’s OK that he was booed. It’s OK his opponent talked s***. It’s OK that the world is kicking him when down. It’s the life he chose. Islam got clipped. Arman has lost. DJ has lost. GSP lost. DC lost. Jose Aldo lost. All went on to have absolutely legendary careers. We stand by our guy. He will be back real soon, and he will be great!”
Sharaf, meanwhile, earned a total of US$100,000 in bonuses for the performance.
Speaking with media after the fight, and when asked about the hyped prospect’s shock loss, UFC boss Dana White told reporters: “Anything is possible.
“Anything is possible when two guys get in there and start fighting. You never know how fights are going to go.
“That’s why when people ask me, ‘Is this guy going to fight this guy after Saturday?’ I’m like, ‘Let’s see what happens on Saturday.’ I don’t know what fights are going to look like.”
White also used the post fight press conference to clear up the state of the UFC heavyweight division – specifically, that Cyril Gane is now the new undisputed champion.
Following Tom Aspinall’s shock decision to vacate the title last week following ongoing issues with his eye, there was even more confusion when White then suggested a new division king would be crowned in November.
This was despite France’s Gane already being the interim champ.
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Speaking with reporters in the wake of UFC 331 however, White confirmed Gane had now been promoted to undisputed champion ahead of a bout with Josh Hokit at UFC 334 in November.
Asked if Gane was now undisputed champ, White said: “True … nothing [changed], I f***ed up.”
Gane is now scheduled to defend his title against the polarising Hokit – whose behaviour White has previously taken issue with — in the main event at New York’s famed Madison Square Garden.
“I got a lot of thoughts on [Josh Hokit],” White said. “Lots and lots. I’m sure they’re the same thoughts that you’re all having.”
So as for what that fight week build might look like?
“I don’t police what people say,” White continued.
“I say it all the time — I don’t have to like you for you to thrive here and for you to do well and be successful. Many people that I do not like have done very well here.
“I’m not saying that I don’t like Josh Hokit. [But] I literally don’t f***ing like anything that Josh Hokit says. That’s not going to change unless he changes, which I don’t see happening.
“I’m going to have to deal with that. That’s a ‘me’ issue and I’m sure a ‘you’ issue.”