{"id":37839,"date":"2026-04-19T23:36:43","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T23:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Dana-White-discusses-matchmaking-philosophy-for-Gable-Stevesons-UFC-debut-200888"},"modified":"2026-04-19T23:36:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T23:36:43","slug":"dana-white-discusses-matchmaking-philosophy-for-gable-stevesons-ufc-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/dana-white-discusses-matchmaking-philosophy-for-gable-stevesons-ufc-debut\/","title":{"rendered":"Dana White discusses matchmaking philosophy for Gable Steveson\u2019s UFC debut"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <center><!--PICTURE R--><\/p>\n<div class=\"pointer\">\n<center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dana-white-discusses-matchmaking-philosophy-for-gable-stevesons-ufc-debut.jpg\" width=\"640\" class=\"Picture\"\/><\/center>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>\n<b>Gable Steveson is 3-0 in MMA bouts. | Mexico Fight<br \/>\nLeague<\/b><\/p>\n<p><!--\/PICTURE R--><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><a rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/fighter\/Gable-Steveson-483540\">Gable<br \/>\nSteveson<\/a>\u2019s first <a rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/organizations\/Ultimate-Fighting-Championship-2\"><br \/>\nUFC<\/a> appearance is shaping up to be one of the most highly<br \/>\nanticipated debuts in recent memory.<\/p>\n<p>It was recently announced that the Olympic gold medalist and<br \/>\ntwo-time NCAA national champion will make his first Octagon foray<br \/>\nat <a rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/events\/UFC-329-July-11-111889\">UFC 329<\/a><br \/>\non July 11 in Las Vegas. Steveson\u2019s first UFC opponent \u2014 which has<br \/>\nyet to be announced \u2014 remains a hot topic of discussion as thet<br \/>\nfight approaches.<\/p>\n<div id=\"adViAi\">\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> According to UFC CEO Dana White, the promotion will make sure to<br \/>\nfind an appropriate opponent for the highly-touted prospect.<\/p>\n<h2>A Different Level<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;CM Punk fought here&nbsp;\u2013 we&#8217;ll find somebody,&#8221; White said on<br \/>\nSaturday at the UFC Winnipeg post-fight press conference. &#8220;I don&#8217;t<br \/>\nknow if we go after a top 15 guy. I say this to you guys all the<br \/>\ntime: The UFC jitters are real. I don&#8217;t care how you&#8217;ve competed or<br \/>\nwhere or what you&#8217;ve done. When you come here, it&#8217;s a different<br \/>\nlevel.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our matchmakers are the best in the business. We&#8217;ll figure him out<br \/>\nand get him the right fight. When I say that, I mean at what we<br \/>\nthink his level is, and what we think he&#8217;s capable of.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 25-year-old Steveson, who has worked extensively with former<br \/>\n<a rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/organizations\/Ultimate-Fighting-Championship-2\"><br \/>\nUFC<\/a> two-division champion <a rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/fighter\/Jon-Jones-27944\">Jon Jones<\/a>, is<br \/>\n3-0 in MMA bouts \u2014 finishing all of his opponents inside of a<br \/>\nround. Prior to focusing on fighting, Steveson tried his hand at<br \/>\nboth professonal wrestling and the NFL.<\/p>\n<p>Steveson last appeared at Mexico Fight League 3 on Feb. 19, where<br \/>\nhe stopped 15-bout veteran <a rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/fighter\/Hugo-Lezama-173033\">Hugo Lezama<\/a><br \/>\nvia technical knockout at the 3:50 mark of Round 1. Before he makes<br \/>\nhis first UFC foray, Steveson will headline Real American Freestyle<br \/>\n9 against <a rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/fighter\/Alexander-Romanov-242931\">Alexander<br \/>\nRomanov<\/a> on May 30 in Arlington, Texas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gable Steveson is 3-0 in MMA bouts. | Mexico Fight League Gable Steveson\u2019s first UFC appearance is shaping up to be one of the most highly anticipated debuts in recent memory. It was recently announced that the Olympic gold medalist and two-time NCAA national champion will make his first Octagon foray at UFC 329 on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37840,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}