Following Bellator 264 on Friday, Bellator President Scott Coker expressed interest in possibly acquiring Gable Steveson.
The American captured the gold medal in men’s freestyle wrestling in the final second of the Olympic gold finals. Since the dramatic performance, the 260-pound Steveson has attracted some big audiences. In fact, following his gold medal win, Steveson himself sent an innocuous message to Dana White on Twitter which indicated potential interest in MMA.
Olympic wrestling gold medalist Gable Steveson said hello to Dana White 👀
(via @GableSteveson) pic.twitter.com/3N3dHKOdia
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) August 10, 2021
Apparently, the entire combat sports world is after the gold medalist. Following Gegard Mousasi‘s successful title defense against John Salter, Bellator president Coker shared that the company is already in talks with Steveson.
“I can tell you this, that we’ve already been in touch with his management,” Coker said. “I do know that he has a couple years left of school and wants to go back and wrestle. There’s dialogue going on, but he really wants to wrestle right now. If he wants to come to MMA, we’ve love to have him here. Nobody builds athletes from wrestling or ground up like we do. I think we’re the best at it. I think we’d be a great home for him.” Scott Coker said at the Bellator 264 post-fight press conference.
Coker is insistent that Bellator is best at building wrestlers into MMA fighters, so it seems the world is Steveson’s oyster as we enter into the third quarter of 2021. Either way, it looks like the 260-pound gold medalist would be a welcome addition to either organization. Often known as the ‘swang and bang’ division, heavyweight would have a new challenge to contend with if Steveson’s wrestling skills translate effectively into the MMA cage.
As of this writing, the freestyle wrestler is still enjoying the luxuries of success, and in due time the combat sports world might have a new player on their hands.
Where would you like to see Gable Steveson end up in MMA?
