Gable Dan Steveson (born May 31, 2000) is an American freestyle wrestler, professional mixed martial artist, former professional wrestler and football defensive tackle. He is currently signed to the Heavyweight divisions of both Real American Freestyle and Ultimate Fighting Championship.
In freestyle wrestling, Steveson was a 2020 Summer Olympic gold medalist, and was also a three-time age-group world champion. In folkstyle wrestling, Steveson was a two-time Dan Hodge Trophy winner, a two-time NCAA Division I national champion, a four-time Big Ten Conference champion, and five-time All-American out of the University of Minnesota.
Steveson made his professional mixed martial arts (MMA) debut at LFA 217 on September 12, 2025.
He was previously signed to WWE from 2021 to 2024, but was released after a poorly-received televised match. Steveson was signed to the Buffalo Bills in 2024, but was released before the start of the 2024 NFL season.
Steveson was born in Portage, Indiana to a White father and a Black American mother, where he started wrestling as soon as he could walk, following his two older brothers’ footsteps. His name Gable Dan was given by his mother after legendary wrestler Dan Gable. He has an older brother, Bobby, who performed in WWE as Damon Kemp until his contract expired in July 2024.
After winning multiple youth-level national tournaments, the Steveson family moved to Apple Valley, Minnesota when Gable was in the seventh grade, so he and his brother Bobby could compete for powerhouse Apple Valley High School. At 13 years old, Steveson entered the 2014 MSHSL state finals with a 39–2 record, but ultimately claimed second place, losing the last match of his middle school career in eighth grade.
After that season, Steveson racked up four state titles and a 171 match win-streak, with his last two state tournament championship matches lasting a combined 28 seconds. He holds the highest winning percentage in Minnesota high school wrestling history, at 98.59% (210–3). For his 2017 performance, he received the Junior Schalles Award for best high school pinner. The next year, he was named the Junior Hodge Trophy winner.
In freestyle, Steveson claimed multiple age-group World Championships, winning gold at the 2015 Cadet World Championships, 2016 Cadet World Championships, and the 2017 Junior World Championships. The top-recruit in the country, he chose to remain local and attend the University of Minnesota.
Collegiate and freestyle wrestling career
Steveson, a high school senior, placed fourth at the 2018 US Open Nationals and the US World Team Trials in April and May respectively, beating the likes of NCAA Division I All-American Tanner Hall and fellow Junior World Champion Dom Bradley in the freestyle tournaments. Steveson started his collegiate wrestling freshman season using a redshirt, winning titles at the Daktronics and Bison Open tournaments. Since his redshirt was pulled in November, he compiled an undefeated 14–0 record in dual meets and a Cliff Keen Invitational title during regular season, with multiple wins over high ranked opponents, most notably second-ranked Derek White in his collegiate debut. Entering the B1G championships as the top-seed, he opened up with a technical fall and two decisions to make it to the finals, where he faced second-seeded Anthony Cassar from Penn State. He lost to Cassar by one point, marking his first defeat in folkstyle since eighth grade. At the 2019 NCAA Division I National Championships, he made it to the semifinals, where he was once again defeated by Cassar by the same 4–3 score. He then won two more matches to claim third place and All-American status.
A recently crowned All-American, Steveson returned to freestyle in May 2019 and became a Final X contestant when he ran through the US World Team Trials Challenge, dismantling 2018 Greco-Roman World finalist Adam Coon, two-time NCAA National champion Tony Nelson, two-time All-American Dom Bradley, and two-time All-American Nick Nevills. However, he lost to two-time World Medalist Nick Gwiazdowski twice by criteria and was unable to make the US World Team.
On June 15, 2019, Steveson and a Minnesota teammate were arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and were subsequently suspended from all team activities.
Steveson then made his international senior debut at the Alexander Medved Prizes in August 2019, where he placed second to Khasanboy Rakhimov. In his last freestyle competition of the year, Steveson added a gold medal to his credit from the Bill Farrell Memorial International in November 2019, after outscoring four opponents 32 points to 4, qualifying for the 2020 US Olympic Team Trials.
After his suspension was pulled and wrestling back to folkstyle, Steveson compiled 12 wins and no losses in duals during regular season, becoming the top-ranked 285-pounder in the United States. Despite being number one in the rankings, Steveson entered the B1G championships as the second seed. At the tournament, he opened up with a fall over the tenth seed, and a decision over the third seed to make it to the finale, where he defeated the top-seeded Mason Parris from Michigan to claim the conference title. Steveson was then scheduled to compete at the NCAA championships as the top-seed, but the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After the season ended, he was named a first team NCAA Division I All-American due to his performance through the season.
Steveson was slated to compete at the 2020 US Olympic Team Trials in early April 2020. However, the event was postponed for 2021 along with the Summer Olympics due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving all the qualifiers unable to compete.
After ten months out of freestyle competition, Steveson wrestled Trent Hillger at the annual Beat The Streets event on September 17, 2020, showing massive skill improvements and winning by technical fall in the first period.
In October 2020, the NCAA granted an extra year of eligibility to winter athletes due to the last season being cut short, this led to Steveson getting an extra year of eligibility.
Steveson represented the Gopher WC at 125 kilograms in the FloWrestling: RTC Cup from December 4 to 5, 2020, alongside graduated Gopher Tony Nelson. After siting out in the dual against the Cliff Keen WC, Steveson faced the heavily accomplished Nick Gwiazdowski from the Wolfpack RTC in an anticipated rematch. He edged the two-time Pan American champion with a score of 4 to 1 points. He then tech'd Jordan Wood to defeat him for the sixth time in freestyle competition and place sixth as a team.