Gable Steveson made it look easy in his MMA debut.
Steveson faced Braden Peterson in his mixed martial arts debut at LFA 217. The heavyweight matchup served as the co-main event of Friday night’s card in Prior Lake, Minn. Steveson made his mixed martial arts debut with one of the great American wrestling pedigrees — which includes national titles, All-American honors, and an Olympic gold medal. With former two-division UFC champion Jon Jones in his corner, Steveson took a couple of leg kicks, but eventually got a super fast takedown, and began unleashing a barrage of ground and pound on Peterson. Eventually, the referee had seen enough and called it at 1:38 of Round 1.
Check out the finish below.
Peterson entered the arena to a chorus of boos from the Minnesota crowd, but he gave it his all despite being a near +1000 underdog.
Jones predicted on the broadcast that Steveson would get a quick takedown and a ground and pound finish, and that’s exactly what happened. His hometown crowd in Minnesota couldn’t get enough of it as Steveson soaked it all in, and looked incredibly confident from the moment he walked to the cage. Steveson took an opportunity to take a quick shot at Chael Sonnen and Craig Jones after their CJI 2 matchup — which was supposed to include Steveson before he was removed a few days out from the event.
