Braden Peterson is looking at his upcoming fight with Gable Steveson as a win-win situation, but that certainly doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to shock the world — and maybe prove something to UFC legends Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen to boot.
Peterson welcomes Steveson to the world of MMA this Friday at LFA 217 in a heavyweight matchup. The event streams live on UFC Fight Pass at Mystic Lake Casino in Prior Lake, Minn.
Since the fight was announced, Peterson has heard the MMA community feel like he’s the lamb being led to slaughter in order to put Steveson on his path to the UFC. “Bloodaxe,” who won his pro debut with a knockout in just 14 seconds in July, says his motivation isn’t coming from the internet, or the fan base, but a lot of it comes from the two UFC legends.
“I get excited about it, honestly,” Peterson told MMA Fighting. “I like a good challenge, for one, and I like to prove people wrong. There’s one aspect of it, where there’s the internet world, where everybody’s talking all this crap about it and that’s kind of laughable.
“What’s kind of put a chip on my shoulder about it, for me, is like the bigger names: Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen. They talk about the fight [on their show], which is huge, right? It is huge that [Gable’s] coming to MMA. But nobody’s even mentioned my name. Like, it takes two people to have a fight, right? And I heard Dana White say, ‘It takes two people to have a good fight,’ and even if it’s the loser, like you still got to have two to have a good fight. It’s not just the one person, and so it’s kind of put a chip on my shoulder where, now, I got to prove wrong, a lot of people. It hasn’t discouraged me in any way. If anything, it’s lit a fire and got me really excited to to prove a lot of people wrong.”
Peterson is a former police officer for nearly a decade, who turned to a world of construction to spend more time with his family. But along the way, he saw a UFC fight involving Tai Tuivasa and thought MMA was something he might be able to get into — mostly seeing athletic heavyweights slinging leather and having the opportunity to hone their craft. Not long after, Peterson began training with some friends, and started fighting in the cage.
In fact, his entire MMA run has happened in 2025 — which includes six total fights, five amateur, one pro, five stoppage wins, one stoppage loss, and countless lessons learned. Peterson has found a team at SBG Polson in Montana, and continues to evolve as an MMA fighter.
Finding the sport at 37, and getting an opportunity like facing Steveson is something Peterson is not going to take for granted, no matter what the result may be.
“I don’t feel the pressure a whole lot,” Peterson said. “I do feel the weight of how much I have to gain by winning it. But yeah, that was kind of the tipping point for me, that moment of considering the fight and everything was, even if I go out there, what’s the worst thing that’s going to happen? I get the shit kicked out of me by an Olympic gold medalist like everybody else is kind of predicting already to happen?
“That’s the worst that’s going to happen, but it’s going to open doors either way it goes. [It’s a] huge stage to be on, the whole world’s going to be watching that and I mean, the worst that could happen is already going to be really great. So winning it is gonna be 1,000 times that.”
Steveson is one of the most accomplished amateur wrestlers to come out of the U.S., winning the gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Steveson is also a two-time national champ, and five-time All-American out of the University of Minnesota. But now, the 25-year-old — who signed a NIL deal with WWE before being released in 2024 — is taking his talents to the world of MMA.
Training with the likes of former two-division UFC champ Jon Jones, Gordon Ryan, and many others, along with his incredible accomplishments on the mats, are certainly something that will give Steveson an edge in a lot of ways when the cage door shuts. But Peterson believes that when Steveson gets punched in the face for the first time, things can, and will change in an instant.
“I think it’ll be very different,” Peterson said. “I’m not so naive as to say an Olympic wrestler won’t be able to take me down. He probably will get some takedowns in, but I think even if that happens, I think my jiu-jitsu is better than his and my striking is better than his. It is very different going into the cage, your adrenaline’s going, and there’s a lot of amateur mistakes to make.
“Like in your amateur career, right? Being able to figure out how to pace yourself, especially as a bigger guy, and it won’t take a lot to get him to be stunned and lose his fight plan.”
Peterson is thrilled to be on this ride and be put in such a huge spotlight at this point in his life. He knows he can’t do this forever, but Peterson says he’s already accomplished the original goal he set for himself to compete for LFA.
Now he predicts he’ll be the guy who sends shockwaves up and down the MMA world on Friday.
“I think it’s going to be an early knockout,” Peterson said. “I think it’ll be [in the] first round. I have two knockouts in under 15 seconds each, and my striking is going to outweigh his quite a bit. My career in football, I played O-line for my whole life and so I’ve figured out that a lot of my power is coming from a very short distance, because that’s what we trained and worked on for years and years is being able to push another dude who’s over 300 pounds the other way so someone else can run a ball, right?
“So there’s a lot of power and short bursts. So I think it’s going to be an early knockout. I think he’s going to come in for a takedown and regret it.”
