At International Fight Week tonight, Gable Steveson is one of the marquee names set to compete at UFC 329. However, the 26-year-old initially wanted to make his first UFC walk at the White House event last month, which remained a dream after he endured an illness. 

During an interview with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Gable Steveson revealed that he fought Hugo Lezama while dealing with pneumonia and the flu back in February, with his condition only worsening over time. Hence, he decided not to make his UFC debut at the Freedom 250 event. 

“I was definitely looking forward to it,” Steveson said. “But honestly, at that fight in Mexico City, I was actually really sick. Like, I got sick with walking pneumonia, and I got sick with the flu also. But it didn’t hit until maybe right at the beginning of the fight when my lungs got open. I just couldn’t move during the fight. And so I was probably sick with that for maybe three weeks after that.

“I lost a bunch of weight and then put it back on. And now, I’m about 250; I was 260 at that fight. When I left that fight, I was probably 225 and then gained all my weight back, and here I’m now.”  

Steveson definitely made the wise decision not to rush his UFC debut. For him, recovering from pneumonia took precedence because fighting while dealing with the illness could’ve deteriorated his health even further. Plus, the fact that a heavyweight like him dropped to 225 lbs, losing more than 40 lbs from his normal weight, suggests the illness was far from mild. Also, this isn’t the first time Steveson has fought off a health issue.

Before Gable Steveson competed at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, a routine medical evaluation revealed that he had the rare Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a serious heart condition. The disorder can cause the heart to beat abnormally fast because of an extra electrical pathway. Steveson was reportedly unaware of the condition until the screening took place, yet he still went on to capture Olympic gold while living with it. After that, the 26-year-old underwent a successful ablation procedure the following year to stabilize his heart rhythm and address the condition.  

Aside from the former NCAA champion, there have also been cases where fighters delayed their UFC return or debut because of illness. Most notably, UFC welterweight Josiah Harrell was originally scheduled to make his promotional debut against Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 290. However, after being diagnosed with a rare brain condition, he was forced to postpone his debut by three years. Eventually, Harrell made his long-awaited walk to the Octagon at UFC Houston this year after proving himself on the regional scene.

Also, it’s not only Gable Steveson who missed the opportunity to compete at the UFC White House event. Even a reigning UFC champion ended up missing that chance.

Tom Aspinall couldn’t fight at UFC White House against Alex Pereira

Though Tom Aspinall didn’t miss his UFC debut like Gable Steveson, the UFC heavyweight champion was another fighter who ultimately fell out of the UFC White House plans. According to Dana White, the Englishman would have fought Alex Pereira at the UFC Freedom 250 event had he been fully fit for the card. 

“100% that would have been the fight if he was [fit],” White told TMZ Sports. “A lot of our champions are hurt right now. There’s a lot of things you have to deal with when you’re making these matches with timing and everything else going on in everybody’s life. But yeah, it would have been Tom.”

For a while, Aspinall vs. Pereira was a dream fight for UFC fans that almost came to fruition. Unfortunately, the Manchester native suffered a nasty eye poke against Ciryl Gane at UFC 321 last year. Well, had the Brazilian defeated the Frenchman on June 14, we might have eventually witnessed that blockbuster matchup. But Gane ended up knocking Pereira out in the second round, effectively crushing the possibility of an Aspinall vs. Pereira clash, at least for now.

That said, though Steveson and Aspinall both missed the chance to compete at the UFC White House event, another opportunity still awaits them. The former NCAA champion is already set to make his long-awaited UFC debut this weekend in Las Vegas, while Aspinall could soon return to action after verbally agreeing to fight Gane in Paris this September.