Gable Steveson did exactly what the betting odds said he would do—and he did not waste much time doing it.
The former WWE star flattened Elisha Ellison by first-round knockout in their heavyweight fight on the UFC 329 prelims, giving Steveson his first victory inside the UFC Octagon.
Steveson is now 4-0 as a professional MMA fighter, with all four wins coming by knockout or technical knockout. He has still never needed the judges, and nobody has managed to drag him beyond the opening round.
Oddsmakers expected a beating before Steveson ever stepped inside the cage. BetOnline.ag installed the Olympic gold medalist as a massive -1750 favorite, while Ellison entered at +900. The sportsbook also listed the total at 1.5 rounds, with the under sitting at -450. Steveson handled that part too, ending the fight before the second round could become a possibility.
That makes four straight finishes for Steveson since leaving professional wrestling behind. He started his MMA career by stopping Braden Peterson at LFA 217 in September 2025, scoring the TKO only 1:38 into the first round.
Steveson added another opening-round stoppage in early 2026 before beating Hugo Lezama by TKO at an MFL event on May 30. Ellison became the latest heavyweight who could not survive Steveson’s combination of elite wrestling and explosive power.
The win also came on the biggest stage of Steveson’s MMA career. UFC 329 is headlined by Conor McGregor against Max Holloway, putting the former WWE prospect in front of a much larger audience than he had seen in his first three professional fights.
Steveson entered MMA with one of the strongest wrestling résumés of any UFC newcomer. He won Olympic gold in freestyle wrestling, became a four-time Big Ten champion and captured two NCAA Division I heavyweight championships at the University of Minnesota.
He has also trained at Jackson Wink MMA Academy alongside former two-division UFC champion Jon Jones, giving him access to one of the most experienced teams in combat sports.
Ellison dropped to 5-3 with the loss and is now 0-2 in the UFC. Steveson moved in the opposite direction, leaving UFC 329 undefeated and carrying a perfect finishing rate.
WWE once believed Steveson could become a major professional wrestling star, but his run with the company never took off. He wrestled Baron Corbin at NXT Great American Bash in July 2023, competed in a handful of untelevised matches and was released in May 2024.
MMA has been a completely different story. Steveson has now won four straight fights, earned his first UFC victory and made it clear that his heavyweight run is no experiment. The competition will only get tougher from here, but Steveson has already shown that his Olympic wrestling and knockout power make him a serious problem inside the cage.
How far do you think Gable Steveson can go in the UFC heavyweight division after starting his career 4-0 with four finishes? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
