• UFC Is Interested In Released WWE Wrestler
Olympic Gold Medalist and former WWE wrestler Gable Steveson has quickly made his presence felt in the world of combat sports. The 25-year-old made his MMA debut at LFA 217 in September, scoring a first-round TKO win over Braden Peterson, and followed it up with an explosive boxing debut at Dirty Boxing 4, where he knocked out Billy Swanson in just 13 seconds.
In an interview with The Jim Rome Show, UFC President Dana White praised Steveson’s transition into MMA and hinted at potential UFC interest.
“Yeah, it’s interesting. When somebody that’s a physical freak, an incredible athlete, and a guy who has competed at the highest level, and then they start transitioning into a combat sport like this, it’s very interesting. We’re definitely keeping our eye on him and we’ll see how this plays out.”
White also commented on Steveson being mentored by UFC Legend Jon Jones, calling it a major advantage:
“It is a great thing, actually. If you can get in and if you look at anybody in the history of Boxing and the UFC, if you train with the best every day, those are usually the guys who become world champions.”
Drawing comparisons to former WWE & UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar, White said that Steveson will eventually end up in the octagon.
“Well, think about this, Brock Lesnar came over here from the WWE, but he was such a strong wrestler, he was able to win the title. Now you got a guy like this with his wrestling background, who’s actually working his way up in the smaller leagues, getting some experience. You know, he’ll eventually end up here and we’ll find out what he’s capable of doing.”
Steveson was signed by WWE in 2021 and drafted to RAW. However, he never made an in-ring appearance on the brand. After a match against Baron Corbin at the 2023 NXT Great American Bash, Steveson was released by WWE as the company felt he wasn’t progressing as expected.
• WWE Legend Blasts His AEW Run: “Why am I still doing this?”
Matt Hardy joined All Elite Wrestling in 2020 after his WWE contract expired. He reunited with his brother, Jeff Hardy, when The Charismatic Enigma signed with Tony Khan’s promotion two years later.
The WWE Legends left AEW in 2024 and have appeared in multiple promotions since. Their time in AEW was decent, but nothing extraordinary in the context of their careers.
Speaking on The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, Matt reflected on The Hardy Boyz’ AEW run and said that they sometimes questioned why they were still wrestling.
“During those times in AEW, there were times where both myself and Jeff – especially me when I was there and I wouldn’t really do anything – it just made me question like, ‘Why am I still doing this?’
I love this, but it kind of doesn’t feel like something I love right now. I knew if we could get into a groove of doing something good and be where we need to be – ultimately, what we need to do was leave and go to TNA. And then we found that again. And I am as much in love with the business as I have ever been this year.”
The Hardys currently hold the TNA World Tag Team Championship.
• Edge’s Status For John Cena’s Final Match Ahead Of LA Knight vs. Surprise Opponent
The Last Time Is Now tournament to determine John Cena’s final opponent is set to kick off this Monday night. The first-round matches on RAW next week will feature Rusev vs. Damian Priest and Sheamus vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, while SmackDown will see LA Knight vs. a surprise opponent and Jey Uso vs. The Miz.
WWE has teased that “faces from other companies” could appear in the tournament, which sparked fan speculation that Cena’s long-time rival Edge (Adam Copeland), currently under contract with AEW, might be involved.
However, an Edge return will not be happening. Fightful Select reports that the WWE Hall of Famer was never under consideration for Cena’s farewell run. It was never discussed, never planned and will not be happening.
As noted previously, WWE teased this possibility just to generate buzz and hype around Cena’s farewell tournament.
