Former two-division UFC champion and champion wrestler Daniel Cormier sees a bright future ahead for Gable steveson. With steveson dominating not only the Olympics – where he earned gold – but his second consecutive NCAA championship this weekend, he’ll retire from wrestling competition and begin eyeing another career path.
Steveson has inked a name, image, and likeness (NIL) deal with the WWE, but Daniel Cormier sees a future for him in the Octagon.
DC: Wrestling Sensation Gable Steveson Would be MMA World Champion
“He’s the type of kid, with all the NIL deals, who could truly cash out without much challenge. Like, he could legitimately wrestle this tournament another year maybe, I don’t know how many years he has left [for] eligibility, but he could wrestle the same tournament next year, same results, and make a ton of money.
Because now with the NIL deals, he’s so marketable. He could still cash in, but the reality is it seems he’s made his mind up to go on to bigger and better things. I believe that he’s going to be fantastic. The kid is an entertainer. He gets it.”
The transition from WWE to MMA is not unheard of. Brock Lesnar, too, was a WWE superstar before embarking on his UFC run. However, DC says steveson ought to do the reverse, dominating the MMA world while he remains the world’s greatest wrestler.
“Gable Steveson in fighting would be a world champion. Here’s the thing — when you look at Brock leaving college and going into the WWE, making the WWE name and then coming back to fighting, fantastic. Gable’s more equipped to fight first than WWE.
Now, like I said, I think he’ll do fine [in WWE], but he’s more equipped to do the professional fighting side of the equation and then take that over to WWE, as opposed to WWE first and the UFC. But we’ll see.”
DC had nothing but praise for the younger fighter, but pointed out that the pro wrestling landscape is very different from what it once was.
“I think with Gable’s personality and his abilities, he can go to the absolute top. Look, I don’t know if you can ever replicate what Brock [Lesnar] has done or even Roman Reigns — the way Roman Reigns has been booked through his whole career, he’s been a monster since day one. You don’t generally get those guys.
Even a guy like Drew McIntyre, who’s physically gifted, you can tell that they love him — he still doesn’t get booked like Brock and Roman. I believe [Gable] can go to the top, but it’s just a matter of, again, the creative department’s going to get together and they’re going to go, ‘What do we do with this kid?’”
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