Jon Jones’s longtime coach crowns top training partner as future UFC heavyweight champ… ‘Sky is the limit’
One of Jon Jones’s training partners for UFC 309 could be on the verge of becoming a dominant force in mixed martial arts.
Jon Jones will make his long-awaited first UFC heavyweight title defense against Stipe Miocic at UFC 309. He returns to the cage after withdrawing from his previously scheduled matchup with Miocic at UFC 295 due to injury.
Jones didn’t leave any stone unturned ahead of his UFC comeback. Since winning the then-vacant heavyweight title last year, he’s worked with fighting behemoths like Gordon Ryan and boxing standout Joseph Parker.
But according to one of Jones’s longtime coaches, one elite grappler brought in for his UFC 309 camp is turning heads in the gym.
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Jon Jones’s coach touts Gable Steveson as the next potential heavyweight superstar
In a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Jones’s coach Brandon Gibson revealed former NCAA wrestling superstar Gable Steveson is working towards competing in MMA.
“The sky is the limit for Gable, he’s a super athlete,” Gibson said of Steveson. “He walked on to the Buffalo Bills without ever playing football. Just in this past week, we’ve seen him in [the gym] boxing with mits, grappling, doing Jiu-Jitsu, ground-and-pound drills. He’s incredible, and I have no doubt that he could be a heavyweight champ.
“There’s a sense of pride I see in Jon Jones having some of these young greats come into the room, where Jon also wants to coach them and lift them up. Jon’s a heck of a teacher himself, so who knows? Maybe Jon Jones will be coaching Gable Steveson to UFC heavyweight glory one day.”
Steveson, after a brief WWE wrestling tenure, tried out for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills this past offseason. He failed to make the team but could now turn his full attention towards a possible MMA career.
Gable Steveson was a critical part of Jon Jones’s camp for Stipe Miocic
Steveson was a wrecking ball while wrestling at the University of Minnesota. He graduated with two NCAA Division-I wrestling world championships and won Olympic gold at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Steveson worked with Jones for the latter stages of the UFC heavyweight champ’s fight camp for Miocic. Jones, a former collegiate wrestling standout himself, likely met his match on the mats working with Steveson.
Steveson has expressed interest in making the full-time transition to MMA in the past but hasn’t debuted yet. Now a free agent after departing WWE and the NFL, the time could be right for him to make the move.
Jones could potentially take on a coaching role once he retires from fighting. Steveson, if he’s all-in on competing in MMA, could be a superstar pupil for the UFC legend.
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