Hot Take Is Chad Gable really that good?

[Portland8242]

I think there's pretty huge potential but at the same time it'd be pretty hilarious if he got KO'd by Waldo Acosta Cortes or Marcin Tybura even.

 

[cmw43]

there are other aspects of MMA other than wrestling. I have no idea why people think that because a division lacks wrestling it must mean that wrestling is the key to beating everyone. Could it be that MAYBE wrestling isn't that dominant at the higher weight classes? Which historically speaking...is true? Striking has always comparatively done better at upper classes than lower ones.

Thinking that he is top 5 off of what hes done is really stupid. Like, it just is stupid. You could pick anyone from the top 15, and match them against Gable's opponents and they would do exactly what he did. Almost everyone in the UFC has done what Gable has done at the local level.

If his third fight was against someone like Volkov he would get absolutely wrecked. It wouldn't even be funny.

We dont even know anything about his ground game, so who even cares if he can wrestle? What is he going to do if he takes someone down, we literally do not know. Some fat guy like Lewis could possibly just get up and knock him out.

Yeah reminds me of how A-Level D1 NFL athlete Greg Hardy ran through his first 6 opponents (amateur and pro) in quick knockouts and everyone said he was gonna be too much for the HW division.

I know Gable is different with the wrestling background but he's still completely untested.

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

Nah, Volkov got held down by Jailton for the entire fight.

If Jailton could do that I'm sure an Olympic gold medalist could too.

This is similar to the brock situation. He didn't have much MMA experience either but due to timing and divisional weakness coupled with his wrestling skill he was able to win the belt.

So given that Gable is an even more accomplished wrestler than Brock, and the division is even weaker than in brock's era, I didn't think it's out of the question for gable to be in the top 5 very quickly

meh, accolades are accolades. Yoel Romero is a Silver Medalist and couldn't even take Adesanya down once. 1 year later Jan the kickboxer Blachowicz ragdolls Adesanya to a UD.

 

[JBJ was here]

Way lower bar for MMA. Fans will put up with a lot as long you’re kicking the shit out of people. Chama don’t even speak English and we absolutely adore him. Gable just needs to be himself and he’ll be OK in UFC.

Whatever language he's speaking, Poatan has charisma. Steveson, by all accounts, really, really doesn't. He's anti-charisma. He's Colby Covington reading the phone book (remember phone books?).

You can certainly make a career of it in MMA without charisma if you're elite enough, but charisma does help.

 

[Söze Aldo]

Whatever language he's speaking, Poatan has charisma. Steveson, by all accounts, really, really doesn't. He's anti-charisma. He's Colby Covington reading the phone book (remember phone books?).

You can certainly make a career of it in MMA without charisma if you're elite enough, but charisma does help.

He has "aura", mainly because he has that strong silent image set, which most can't emulate. I think some of his fans got angry when it was rumored he was dating Tracey Cortez because it brought him down to earth too much.

 

[skylolow]

It is hard to say how it will all work out for him.

But he does have elite wrestling skills and seems to have at least an average striking game. He is very athletic for his size also. This all bares very well for a HW success.

Reality is HW is thin as shit and with his basic skill set he should find decent success pretty quickly. I'm not shocked by the outcome of his first few matches in the C leagues HW isn't much more than a bar fight.

 

[Subline]

He will be a good addition to heavyweight, they desperately need new talent.

I don't see him ever beating Tom though, not everyone can be as elusive as Gane.

 

[Söze Aldo]

I really hope Steveson’s nickname doesn’t actually become “Chad” Gable when he joins the UFC.

 

[CroCopsLHK]

He likely beats every HW except Blaydes, Volkov, Tom right now, if his wrestling is conducive to MMA. Yoel's for examples was not

In a few years he'd likely beat all of them too.

It also comes down in large part to how he reacts to getting hit. HW hits are no joke.

Brock didnt react well but was able to avoid that due to his size, strength and speed.

Gable is probably a better pure wrestler but he doesn't seem as big as Brock. I also don't know how his explosiveness is.

Derrick Lewis?

I know WWE didnt work out for him. Well MMA is a "show me" sport. What business does he have fighting these two people he killed. I mean what's next for him, a slightly bigger organization?

His fights may have been under the Zuffa umbrella, idk. He may be babied or fostered

Lesnar's second opponent was Frank Mir with a horseshoe up his ass

 

[Platinum Perry Mason]

He is the GOAT already. Nothing left to prove. He should retire on top.

I didn’t know he’s already been training with the Dagastani’s.

 

[Dr. Rose]

TIL Olympic wrestler DC wasn't successful at HW

HW GOAT, Sambo with good striking
LHW GOAT, Wrestler with good striking

So what makes them the GOAT, is it the striking, which several people on here think dominates the upper weight classes, or is it the constant threat of grappling (which ultimately makes their strikes even better)? It seems to me that the distinguishing factor is grappling.

 

[HuskySamoan]

the answer is no one knows. he hasn't done anything yet. but hes american and an olympian, so people would like to use hyperbole that he could beat any hw because hws are that bad, which quite frankly is silly.

its nearly as silly as people thinking bo nickal would run over everyone when he was beating up nobodies. its a different sport.

Thinking HW is really bad isnt silly. The sport is insanely shallow at HW, considerably shallow at 205 and 185 as well. If guys are going to do what Cormier or Yoel did, in the modern era, it will be at those weights.

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

if he turns out to be the real deal, what then though? he'll be in the same predicament that Aspinall is in. you need a rival in order to make money and become famous. i think it's going to be hard to rule a dead division for years and make any kind of real money, just look at Rico Verhoeven.

 

[PeterGriffin]

As soon as Lesnar ran into a real HW fighter and adversity, he learned his place. Same thing will happen to Gable.

 

[wwkirk]

As soon as Lesnar ran into a real HW fighter and adversity, he learned his place. Same thing will happen to Gable.

Indeed. The very opposite of Peter Griffin. That mofo never wilts in a fight!

 

[Alpha_T83]

As soon as Lesnar ran into a real HW fighter and adversity, he learned his place. Same thing will happen to Gable.

It's possible. I have a lot of criticism for Jon Jones, but he didn't have any quit him.

 

[Doctor Grudge]

Thinking HW is really bad isnt silly. The sport is insanely shallow at HW, considerably shallow at 205 and 185 as well. If guys are going to do what Cormier or Yoel did, in the modern era, it will be at those weights.

Heavyweight has always been "bad". It isn't so bad, that literally some guy is going to come in and just destroy every single person on the roster because he is a great wrestler with a year of training.

Romero and Cormier would not beat the top ten guys in their weight class by their third fight, which is the claims being made int his thread. Which is stupid.

 

[Doctor Grudge]

Yeah reminds me of how A-Level D1 NFL athlete Greg Hardy ran through his first 6 opponents (amateur and pro) in quick knockouts and everyone said he was gonna be too much for the HW division.

I know Gable is different with the wrestling background but he's still completely untested.

Or Despaigne that has done exactly what Stevenson has done at this point in Gable's career. Remember the hype around him? This was literally like a year ago and people have already forgotten.

Buchecha, who is a multi time grappling champion, submitted his first several guys and once he fought up in competition he has been struggling. He's even currently in the UFC as we speak and is hanging on by a thread.

The point isn't that Gable is not a good prospect, the argument is that "HE WOULD BEAT EVEROYNES ASS NOW" is fucking stupid. That isn't talking about a prospect at that point, that's people getting overhyped.



It's really easy to look up and see that there aren't exactly a ton of wrestling world champions who also dominated MMA. You cannot use MMA math and be like "well, if an all-american can do well in MMA, imagine what an olympic medalist would do!" Guys like Islam Makhachev and Khazmat are not wrestling champions. Took Henry Cejudo years and a bad decision to become a champion over a fighter who had no great wrestling credentials in Johnson.

A lot of medalist have come into MMA and got submitted or knocked out pretty early in their careers, especially during the Japanese days when they didnt give a shit and put veterans up against new comers.

Gable might be a phenom, but based on what he has done so far...uh...this is really common. People are even jizzing their pants about throwing a punch and doing a takedown behind it, not realizing that that is actually proof of how inexperienced he is. He is shooting no matter what because he doesn't want to get hit, not even realizing he was throwing a connecting punch. That is something people even do in street fights...

 

[HuskySamoan]

Heavyweight has always been "bad". It isn't so bad, that literally some guy is going to come in and just destroy every single person on the roster because he is a great wrestler with a year of training.

Romero and Cormier would not beat the top ten guys in their weight class by their third fight, which is the claims being made int his thread. Which is stupid.

Fair enough, but I think in a year from now Gable can beat top 10 guys for sure.

 

[Doctor Grudge]

Also, the Brock Lesnar comparison makes no sense...Brock lost his second fight against a top guy. That would support that Gable can't beat an elite guy RIGHT NOW. That also isnt' even taking into account that Brock Lesnar trained longer than Gable Stevenson at that point.

3 years into a career, Gable might be a top guy. Today? ...because he did well (understatement I know) in the Olympics? That isn't how fighting works. There is diminishing returns for being that good at wrestling. Wyatt Hendrickson beat Gable for the NCAA championship, is he a top ten HW in MMA also? Khabib and GSP didn't do anything in wrestling and they have easily dominated well credentialed wrestlers.

Like, if you are saying he is a top guy now, you are agreeing with Joe Rogan. Should really be enough said at that point.