How excited are you about Gable Stevenson?

[Tweak896]

9/10. I hope he continues to look great as his competition goes up and it'll be a 10/10. HW needs a real wrestler in the division. I thought Jones would keep the division honest, but Gable will force every fighter to round their game.

 

[Clark Rogers]

Potential comes by a lot in MMA and also doesnt translate a lot either, so people are reserved with their excitement about it. Which is especially more called for when the specific case of potential has A) a relatively smaller window to actualize the potential B) a division where actualized potential means less than other divisions because of everyone getting by on low-skill knockout power, and C) has already had other avenues where his potential was supposed to actualize, but was seemingly never proceeding along.

So as far as everyone getting on the wagon: Can he make it? Sure. But the horse comes first, not the wagon.

This. Exactly this.

When I mentioned potential earlier in the thread, this is exactly what I meant.

I don't think anyone is denying his credentials or loads of potential those bring, but time and time again we've seen that there's WAY more to this game than credentials.

 

[Dionysian]

If he wasn't associated with Jon and wasn't American the hype would be 0.

Not a deserved 0 necessarily, but it would be 0. Just something to remember as it plays a factor, just like it did with Bo.

That being said, I am excited for a good grappler to shake things up at the bar-brawling-zero-grappling shitshow that is HW.

 

[TheMadHatter]

I am pretty excited. I recall posting a few months back that he would have the best chance of being the next american HW champ and got shit on for it. I am looking forward to bumping that post.

 

[colorles]

Explosive athlete. Low center of gravity. KO power. However: let's see what he looks like against opposition that he can't just blitz and get out of there in seconds. Also: great success in freestyle wrestling does not necessarily translate to great success as an mma grappler for various reasons. A guy like Chimaev can shoot for a takedown from halfway across the cage and get it more often than not (and not get kneed of uppercutted in the process); ie, a guy like Chimaev can close the distance in an mma fight. From what it looks like with Stevenson, he tries to bully his opponent backwards and throw a few explosive punches and then shoot for a takedown (it's what he did in his most recent fight and was planning on taking the guy down even as he knocked him out). But, he won't be able to effectively back up everybody.

I would like to see the UFC fast track him. Get him in there with ranked heavyweights immediately.

 

[IDGETKTFO]

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[p4pfighters]

The guy has only fought fat bums

 

[oldschoolmmafan]

I am excited but am more interested in Rico Verhoeven. That guy if he sign with UFC will be nightmare.

 

[oldschoolmmafan]

I think he has a ton of potential just too bad he sexually assaulted chicks and the University of Minnesota covered it up

Is this legit?

 

[oldschoolmmafan]

I think he has a ton of potential just too bad he sexually assaulted chicks and the University of Minnesota covered it up

Those prosecutors are disgusting, he was given special treatment as a future Olympian. Knew people who could access the right people in the right places. This guy is number one bullshit.

 

[Private Whatley]

6/10. Still a lot of questions to be answered.

Will he be Bo Nickal? Will he turtle up like Brock when he gets hit?

It will be interesting.

He fights in a less skilled division than Bo and won at a much higher level than Brock did. He’s also starting at a younger than both of them when they started. The only concern with him is his commitment to fighting seeing as he initially attempted to break into the pro wrestling biz and then pivoted to football before attempting MMA.

 

[Russie]

I'm interested but not overly excited. Mainly just want to see his growth and how it plays out.

 

[ElLunico]

Hes got all the physical ability and gifts. I want to see how he reacts when he gets hit clean. I cant really get on the hype unless I see that.

He should win lot of fights against low tier comp so I see him sky rocketing up rankings.

 

[skylolow]

Gabe is going to do great at HW.

HW is probably the easiest weight class to begin with. He has elite wrestling with great athleticism in a division of mostly slower guys that aren't very dynamic in the cage. In his limited time in the cage he seems to not mind mixing it up on the feet, he isn't overly cautious in his stand up, and he likes to throw. So at least we know he isn't Lesnar 2.0 in the striking department.

With how thin HW is right now we all should be very excited to someone like Gabe get in the mix.