MMA Fighting - Gable Steveson Reacts to Winning Olympic Gold Medal, Explains Tweet to Dana White

Episode Date: August 15, 2021

Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson discusses his historic win at the 2020 games where he pulled off one of the most stunning victories in his final match. Steveson will also address his future, especially after sending a message to UFC president Dana White, as well as possibly working with WWE. Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Canada Life. Insurance, investments, advice. You're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network. Damon Martin MMA fighting. I am here right now with the man himself, the 2020 Olympic gold medalist, 21 years old, doing far more than I've ever done at 21. I'll tell you that much for sure.

Gable Steven, Gable, welcome in, man. Thank you so much for taking the time. Yeah, yes, I appreciate you having me. Absolutely. Be honest, you just won a gold medal. Do you get tired of hearing that? You just won a gold medal? I mean, come on now.

that's pretty like you'll never get tired of that right no never i mean that's that's a that's a lifelong dream and uh that that match is going to be posted so many places in the future and so many kids gonna look up to it so it's it's never going to get tired of me it's gonna it's gonna be crazy absolutely uh before the olympics started i did a wrestling preview with daniel cornea and we sat down and we looked at the entire team and we said we both believed everyone was going to win a medal and we were trying to predict the goals and we said you know a couple and i said both of us said within Gable is the guy who's going to pull off the upset. We're like, this is the guy you got to watch.

But you hadn't had a ton of freestyle international competition up to that point. But you rolled through those first three rounds, like so dominantly. Like, did you kind of expect that? Did it just play out that way? Like, can I give me your thoughts on those first couple of matches? Because you didn't allow a point to be scored until the finals, obviously. Oh, man, it was actually very surprising, to be honest. Because I went past the 2016 Olympic champ, like three-time world champ before that.

And the guy wrestled first, he was about, 35 years old. He's been on the scenes for a long time. I mean, it's a little bit games. You never expect. You never know what to expect. But to be honest, after the first match I went out there and the fire came and it was like the ball was rolling, the second match was a match I was looking forward to. So I was already like prepping myself to go against Taha, I go of Turkey. And when I met him, I'm waiting for that match for a long time.

And so I wanted to see him. And then after I beat him, I was like, hmm, my fire is like. like really lit right now. Like I'm going back to back unscored on. And then then the semis I went unscored on again. And I was like, ooh, I was kind of surprised myself. I was like, I don't know how I'm doing this.

And then we'll talk about the finals after. It was, it was amazing to watch. Like I said, and Taha'a Gould is a beast. I mean, obviously, that guy's hugely accomplished wrestler to go out and blank him. I think it was 8-0. I mean, that's a huge deal to go out and blank that guy.

Yeah, so he's a legend in the heavy way, you know what I'm saying? got my respects. He's got a lot of few respects. For me to go out there and do that to him is very surprising for the outside world. But for me and my inner circle that I've trained with was not a big deal, to be honest, because we're built for a situation like that. If you're built for situations like that, you're going to go out there and enjoy yourself and you're going to put on a good show for everyone out there. So he's, like I say, you've got all respects for me. And I know I could go out there and put the hammer on him and I'm just glad I put it on the right

way. So obviously the finals, Gino Petrishvili, a monster from Georgia. Of course, he's a dominant guy as well, was a three-time world champion, bronze medalist in 2016, a beast in his own right. And obviously, you knew you had your hands full. You knew he was a tough opponent. And obviously, you got up early and then he came back. I'll be honest, I was watching it.

I stayed up to watch it. I was like a little shocked. Like, I was a little shocked there. He came back. Like, I didn't see that coming. Yeah, I felt really good at the beginning of match. I think it was 4-0. and then second period, I took a bad shot

and then come to my feet and he rolled me through. And then he took a really good shot and I knew that gut wrench was coming because he does everybody. He rolled me up a few times. And at that point, it was like a rollercrossed emotion because I was on a high. And then like I went to the bottom of the world

after I was losing and it was like 30 seconds left. But at the end of the day, I never lost faith in myself. I never lost hope. I knew I spent three weeks in Tokyo to go out there and have a gold medal in that second place. And so that's what I was. I was thinking at that point.

And I think that drive, that fire for me to take go and help me pull off those last two takedowns. Yeah. So let's just go ahead and talk about the final sequence. I don't know how many times you described it to this point. I can tell you right now, Gable, my neighbors hate me because I screamed like a 12-year-old girl when you landed that two points, when you landed the two points to win, like seven in the morning here on the East Coast.

Walk me through that sequence because, again, in that moment, seconds were running down. You know time is running out. oh, obviously, you've got to land the two points to get the win. Walk me through that sequence and kind of the emotion of when you heal. Because obviously, you've seen the famous photo. You got the two points out. It's an iconic photo now. But that was such an amazing sequence.

Oh, it's so hard to describe what I was going through in that seconds. I mean, right when I got put back on my feet to go for the six second take down and get it in point two, it was like, I think at that point, too. It was like, I think at that point it was a straight heart. It was like nothing to lose. You got to make some happen. And so when I was circling behind them, and I saw that clock strike point two when I scored the two and the buzzer went off.

It was like it was kind of like a wild feeling, kind of indescribable. Like you have to be in that situation. I feel it because like it was like, I'm an Olympic gold medalist and I did it at 21 years old. And it was some most definitely special to do against an opponent like that. Yeah. Now obviously if you go out and you beat the guy,

you tech fall and you know, 10 nothing or technical superiority, what they call in the Olympics. I used say tech fall because I'm, I always watch college wrestling, but the tech fall. It would have been great, obviously. It would have been an amazing moment for you to go and do something like that. But this is something that's going to live on forever. I mean, we've got to be honest.

I wrote about it after it happened, I said one of the craziest, you know, most insane finishes in Olympic history to pull off that win with, like you said, 0.2 seconds remaining on the clock. I mean, I'm sure you would have loved a 10-0 win, but be honest, like the fact that you had to pull that off the way you did. I mean, this is going to live forever. I mean, that's a moment that, you know, 20 years from now, they're going to be replaying that moment whenever we talk about Olympic wrestling. I would have loved a 10-0.

I mean, at the beginning of match, I thought I had it. And I took them out of bounds for the four-pointer, but they didn't give it to me, so I had to refocus. To have a 10-0 win in Olympic finals would have been historical. But I think the way things happen and the way the world aligned, that last second take down made it even more historical. And so that pitch for me throwing up the two points is hopefully going to be an iconic photo and be brought up when I'm 40 years old in the future and hopefully kids look up to

that picture and kids see that video and just to know to never give up and never stop wrestling absolutely uh I hate to be that guy Gabe I got to ask you is the gold medal nearby do you keep it like with you like where's the gold medal right now is right there right behind me it's like it's one of those accomplishments like you can never I imagine you probably can never get sick like talking about or thinking about it right like because it's something you work so hard for your entire life. I mean, for people that don't know, obviously, we're more of a mixed martial arts site, but for people that don't know, like, you literally were born into wrestling. Your name is Gable, Dan Steven, and obviously, of course, I actually had a chance of you a

interview Dan Gable, which was one of my favorite interviews of all time. That guy's an icon. But you were literally born for this, which is crazy to think about, to get that gold medal at 21. I mean, I can't even imagine the emotion. Oh, there's so many crazy emotions. I mean, after I got that gold medal, I fight and take it off for, like, three days. I had it on me everywhere. I went, everywhere. like I was showing it to all the homies on the FaceTime and stuff. And I mean, to do it at such a young age, I mean, it's most definitely life changing. You know what I'm saying?

A lot of kids, a lot of kids that are 21 don't even get to go outside the country and see different places. And there's so many kids that don't go outside the country and wrestle at World Championships, especially the Olympic Games, you know, because we only send six people if everyone qualifies. And so for me to be, for me to go out there and influence the next generation of young kids that come up and want to do that same thing at such young age is crazy. And hopefully kids look at that and be inspired to step on the wrestling mat and go out there and do the thing.

Yeah, absolutely. I know you've heard this before, but I mean, you're the first guy at this weight class to do it in so many years for America. I mean, Mark Baumgartner is the last guy to do it. And that's, you know, back in the 90s. And heavyweight has always been a really difficult class for the American wrestlers. And obviously there's no shame in that. But to go out and do that in that weight class is a big deal because you are a different

breed of heavyweight wrestler, which is, again, I know you've heard this a million times, your celebration with the black backflip and everything, but you are a different kind of heavyweight wrestler. You're not the guy who's just going to lean on people. You literally go out there and out move them, out fast them, all these kind of things. You are a different kind of heavyweighs. I mean, I just, the athleticism is there, the confidence is there, and I like being a showman. I like going out there and doing the backflips and making sure, you know, not a lot of people see what happens with wrestling the results. And so for me to go out there and do backflips

and put on a good show for people is bringing outside people to come watch wrestling. And that's what we always wanted. We wanted to grow the sport and grow it to a bigger thing. And I mean, yeah, 29 years later after Bruce Barmgard, I think is first or second one, not sure. There's a new heavyweight champ for USA.

And for me to go out there and put on them red, white, blue, and bring a gold medal home and hear that national anthem when I'm on the gold medal stage is something special. hopefully, like I said, just inspiration for others and just a motivation factor for the younger kids. Absolutely. Yeah, I said, I was a Mark Coleman. It was a buddy of mine in wrestling. See him Mark Coleman heavyweight and going to Bruce Baumgartner. But yeah, that's a tough, that's a tough way class. And you go out and do what you did is a big deal. And I know there's no, there's no team medal, you know, in the Olympics like there is in college where you win a national championship like that. But, you know, America won the most medals, you know, in wrestling between the men's and women.

Simmons, three gold medals in total, two on the men's freestyle. I mean, I know, again, it's not a team competition in Olympics, but you've got to be happy with how things played out for Team USA at this Olympics. Oh, yeah. Everyone went out there and did the job. I mean, freestyle, men's freestyle came home with five medals, two gold medals. Me and David, David Taylor and I won the goal with Kyle Schneider

and Kyle Schneider second and Kyle Dake and Thomas Gilman, both bronze. I mean, we went out there and put on a show and all the women's wrestlers. Tamara Adeline, Sarah Hildenbrandt, and I think Helen Marulles came back with medals. I mean, for them to go out there and put on a good name for themselves. And like I said, we're just trying to inspire the next group of kids that are going to come through. And when we're older, they're going to look at us and be like, wow, those two teams were legendary. They came home with nine medals out of the 11 wrestlers that were sent or something. I mean, USA is most definitely growing in wrestling.

And we are the powerhouse in the world. Yeah. there was a time not that long ago Gable where wrestling, you know, just didn't get a lot of attention. And, you know, you had the hardcore people who's still watching myself and some other MMA people. But obviously, as MMA has grown, I think that has helped wrestling. We've seen, you know, obviously very accomplished wrestlers go on to become fighters. And we've seen the sport kind of grow. You know, obviously, I think Jordan Burroughs was a big influence on that.

He kind of had that personality. People kind of followed him when he did his gold medal in 2012. And we see this now to where wrestling is a much bigger sport. Now, you're a guy, I mean, I've read stories about you from high school where you were, you know, when you went on this incredible run through the end of your high school career. And obviously you came into college with a lot of eyeballs on you when you went to the University of Minnesota. So you're kind of used to living under the spotlight. But to do what you're doing at 21 in, it's like, can you wrap your head around it?

Because you've helped, you've helped and handled pressure like nobody's business. I mean, we ought to be honest. Like, there's a lot of people who would crumble in these kind of situations. And you've kind of embraced it. You've invited it on you. I love spotlight. Like I said, I love going out there putting on the best so possible for the people.

You know, at the end of the day, people are going waking up at 4 a.m. to watch me wrestling, you know what I'm saying? If I go out there and have to do it, it's going to be a waste of time for them to wake up and watch me wrestling. So for me to go out there at 21, press the world, the pressure of the world is on me to satisfy the people at home is what I'm mostly worried about. to make USA proud is what I'm worried about,

especially here at Minnesota to make the university proud is the main goal for me. So I don't mind the pressure. I love the pressure. You know, pressure makes diamonds. And I like to go collect them diamonds and go do my thing on the outside. So for me to step up big, make USA proud,

make my teammates proud, and make people at home proud, is no more priority. Absolutely. I love it. I love it. Now, part of this, you know, In years past, when you were in wrestling, I mean, listen, we got to be honest.

Like, it was not, you know, the reason why so many wrestlers end up graduating going on to things like MMA is because wrestling didn't really have a way to provide you with a living, didn't really have a way to provide you with a financial stability. And I know, I know the guy you're working with Dave Martin, who's a very, very famous MMA manager, works with a lot of great fighters, Luke Rockhold, Robbie Lawler, Michael Chandler, and obviously you're working with Killcliffe now as well. Having that support, how important is that for you in that? And also, you know, as a college student, I mean, listen, at the end of the end, the day, you're holding a gold medal, but we got to remember, like, you know, it's not like the Olympics, you know, it's like the Olympic Committee is, you know, paying a million dollars for winning a gold, and that's fine, but obviously, you know, you got to live, you got to support yourself, you got to train all these kind of things. Now you actually have that

support system able to do that. Oh, yeah, I mean, when my family at home and the, in the support systems that came through with Dave and a lot of other, and Kilcliff, too, that's sort of support me also. I mean, so many doors have opened when I won the national tournament, and my next step after the national tournament was to win the Olympic gold. And with this limited gold medal, it's opened the world for me to see. I've came in contact with so many people and so many big names that want me to come and do shows and show up to events such as USC and WWW.

and we and anything else. I mean, I've seen tweets from the Vikings messaged me. This gold medal is most definitely open up a lot of things with the sports system with Dave, Dave Martin and a lot of other people, you know, we're going to go grab this world and we're going to take care of it and we're going to own it too. Yeah, absolutely. Now, you're still in celebration mode, and rightfully so you literally got home from Tokyo a couple nights ago, so you're still in celebration mode as you should be. But of course, everyone's going to start asking about what comes next. I mean, of course, you know, you obviously win the gold medal. Now, I know the world championships are coming up in Norway and October, so you got that. But I mean, what do you, obviously, okay, let me just pull the, you know, the big elephant out of the room. We saw your tweet to Dana White. Now, I'm an MMA guy. So tell me, Gable, what is in your head right now? What is next for Gable Stevenson? What is next for Gable Steven is really not sure. I'm open for all options. I'm going to go, like I said,

I'm going to go explore every single option I can. I'm going to go put my name on every single desk and go out there and make sure that the Gable Steven's the name is well known and it's going to influence the next culture that comes up. And so like I said, there's a lot of places to go. I don't know what's next for me, W.O.U.C. Football, go back to school. Who knows? But at the end of the day, the best decision will come to my family

and who knows when it may come. Yeah, I mean, you got options. I mean, because I kept mentioning it when I was writing about you last week. Like, you still have eligibility. You can go back and wrestle at the University of Minnesota if you want to. And obviously, again, now you have the financial capabilities to do that without, you know, going back just as a college student. So you can go back to college if you want to. You have that eligibility there.

Yeah, I still got a crazy thing. I still got some more years of eligibility. And, I mean, I could go back to Minnesota and do my thing again. Why wouldn't I? I mean, it could be a cool thing, but why wouldn't I also look at the bigger options that may come about? So like I said, I'm open to anything and I'm going to, me and Dave and my family are going to go search for the right, right things, and we're going to make sure everything is taken care of. Yeah, now are you, obviously everyone saw the tweet to Dana White.

And of course, everyone, you know, just buzzed about it putting on Twitter, but on Instagram. Are you a fight fan? Are you a fan of UFC? Are you a fan of mixed martial arts? Oh, most definitely I'm a fight fan. I mean, who wouldn't want to be the baddest man on the planet, you know what I'm saying? Who wouldn't want to hold that UFC championship belt? You know, I'm holding a gold medal,

and I'm the baddest wrestler on the planet. Why would I want to go out there and be the baddest UFC heavyweight champion? So I sent that tweet out to Dana, and I'm sure he saw someone from his desk got a hold of him. But, like I said, all options will be open. Yeah, and obviously, for people that don't know, it was what I was, I think two years ago, a year and a half ago, whatever was you worked with Brock Lesnar.

He had come up to the University of Minnesota, and you got to get some working with him. Of course, Brock is a legendary wrestler from Minnesota himself. I assume, you know, you probably had a conversation with him, and that's a resource you could probably rely on for advice or if you just need help. I know Brock did that with Logan Storley as well, who's obviously fighting in Bellator.

So you have that, I'm sure you have that influence there with a guy like Brock. Most definitely, Brock is a big influence. You know, he's had his input on things that I want to do. I mean, he's told me a while ago, what should I not do and what should I do? You know, Brock's been there for a long time, and he's pointing me in the right direction,

and he'll make sure I always go the right way. Yeah, and on the flip side, side of that, Brock, of course, also the other side is WWE. Now, we all know they have interest. I'm sure you've seen Triple H and everyone's talked about you coming over. They love the big guys. They love the guys who are athletic and that's an option as well. Is that

something you could potentially explore as well? Most definitely, I'm going to explore the WWE. You know, Vince McMahon is a great dude. Triple H is a great person also. So for me to explore for me not to explore WWVE would be fairly stupid on our part.

But I'm going to go out there and me and triple age and have face faith talks me and Vince will me and Dana will me and Joe Rogan will and I'm going to go out I'm going to go out there and like I said I'm going to explore yeah absolutely absolutely it's kind of funny I'm sure maybe you saw it Ben Asker of course very famous in the wrestling community in his own right you put out a tweet after you I want I can't remember it was after the semifinals of the finals but he put out a tweet and said you know give this guy 18 months of training and he's a you know UFC champion like that's like that's how much faith you have from the MMA community already I And I, listen, I'm a believer in that as well, man. You are a different breed of heavyweight athlete. And obviously, we've got great heavyweights. I'm in Ohio. I'm 15 minutes from Ohio State. So, of course, I'm very familiar with Steve Miochich.

Of course, Francis and Gondi, the current champ. Obviously, all the guys out there. But, again, if you decide to do MMA, you already have the greatest base possible to make huge waves in this sport if you decide to fight. Yeah, you know, I saw the tweet from Ben Asking, and I do believe that, too. You know, I do believe that with my wrestling skills and me put on some striagist skills that I could be the champion less than 18 months. I can go out there and dominate my way through the heavyweight field. And, you know, those good guys coming up.

There's the French guy, I think, is named Gain. He just won his match against Derek Lewis, which we were watching over there in Tokyo. So congratulations to him. Steppe, you know, legend, Corme, legend, Brock Lesnar, Coutres, and all those guys are great dudes. You know what I'm saying? And Francis is holding the belt right now. And I'm not sure anyone at this point may stop him. We're going to see with the guy Gaines.

if he can, but, you know, the support from the MMA world is heavy. You know what I'm saying? A lot of people have faith to meet. That's cool to see you. So, I mean, like, just going to, like I said, we're going to explore. We're going to take our time and we're going to pick the right option for me, whether it's MMA or anything else. But we'll always have a good support system from the fans.

We're going to make sure I'm a people's person and go out there and put on the show for everybody. Absolutely. And it's not, again, I say options. This is something, you know, 10, 12 years ago, wrestlers didn't have. If you're a wrestler, you know, 10, 15 years ago, you either became a wrestling coach or you might go into fighting. Like, you literally didn't have the other option. You actually have a lot of options right now.

And I didn't even, like we're sitting there talking about the Olympic gold medal, they didn't talk about. You could go back and win another gold. You're so young. You can easily go to the next games, you know, when they restart again. So, I mean, 2024. So, I mean, again, there's a world of possibilities available to you. Yeah, most definitely. I mean, 2024 don't sound bad.

I'm either going to Paris when another goal. gold medal and sled of mind myself again, you know. Two gold medals don't sound bad. Anything that doesn't, you know, I'm a competitor. I go out there and put my best foot forward. And when I lose, I'll always make sure that I put my heart out there and anything I do. Yeah. Well, Gable, thank you so much for taking the time.

I try to, you know, as a reporter, as a journalist, I'm supposed to be unbiased. I'm not unbiased right now because I was freaking out excited when you won. I loved Washington. I always written for Team USA, of course. course. And so seeing you win that gold medal was amazing, man. Congratulations. Enjoyed. I know you got to be enjoying a little bit, but please enjoy it. Congratulations again. And I tell you what, I can't wait to see what's next. I know you said you're going to make the decision, but I'll tell you, man, I just can't wait to see what you do next because whatever it is, I will be watching.

I appreciate you for watching. Thank you for having me on. Absolutely, Gabe. We'll talk to you soon, buddy. Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye. Thank you.