The 2024-25 NCAA wrestling season has seen many epic performances till now, but some wrestlers have been in the spotlight like Gable Steveson. The Olympic champion made his comeback to the sport after a few failed attempts in the WWE and NFL, but he’s looking forward to establishing his dominance in the NCAA by earning his third title with Minnesota. However, wrestling isn’t the only sport he has his eyes locked on.

Even though he has returned to the NCAA, Steveson is still looking forward to many more opportunities. And what did he find out there? It’s the multi-million dollar industry, UFC, as the wrestler took a lot of interest after spending valuable time with UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones. Undoubtedly, his aspiration sparked a lot of debate in the community, but he’s not the only wrestler, including an Olympian, who’s looking forward to making their MMA debut in the coming years, but with a twist.

Their mindset on the sport

So who are these wrestlers looking forward to getting their hands on UFC? In a recent Instagram video from @wrestlersgrind, Kyle Dake and Yianni Diakomihalis were seen discussing their opinions on the sport, which is considered one of the most brutal out there. The two wrestlers have a lot of differences between them, as Dake is a four-time world champion and a two-time Olympic medalist, while Diakomihalis is just kicking off his international career after securing his third NCAA title in the 2021-22 season.

“Yianni, will you ever gonna fight in MMA?” Dake asked, to which Diakomihalis replied, stating, “No, I’m not gonna fight. I always, like, when people ask me, like, fighting one time would be cool, but it’s hard to make a living getting punches in the face.” While the 25-year-old is not looking for any long-term contract in the UFC, he might be up for a fight, but just for a single match. But why doesn’t he want to extend his aspiration in MMA? There’s not only a financial aspect to it, but also he doesn’t want to get bashed in the face all the time. 

Surely, UFC and wrestling are both sports that require the two opponents to be physical while playing, but MMA is too brutal for Diakomihalis. Furthermore, Dake revealed his own reason for looking forward to the sport with not much of a big plan, stating, “Me fighting, I thought about it um for a little bit. I think I would be pretty good at it by spend some time training just because wrestling is such an ex-factor, but at the same time I think it’s definitely a lot of people are getting really good at wrestling and fighting, so they really becoming professional and doing it forever. But yeah, I think that would be something I will consider, um, but you know it will take a lot.”

With his experience, Dake knows that if he enters the UFC scene, he might have a shorter advantage, owing to his wrestling career. However, all the processes that will go through, especially training, contracts, and other factors, are something that are a hassle to him. Diakomihalis also agreed with Dake’s mentality regarding considering a shift to the sport, as he doesn’t want to stay much longer in the scene, even though it’s a multi-million dollar industry.

It’s common for athletes of such calibers to aspire to compete in more than one sport. Aside from the two wrestlers previously mentioned, Steveson’s career is noteworthy. Despite winning an Olympic gold medal in wrestling, he remained focused on other sports, in which he eventually had the opportunity to excel. While his endeavors in WWE and NFL were very short, he has no regrets, as he’s already looking forward to a UFC move in the coming years.

Gable Steveson’s interest in UFC

As if Gable Steveson’s return to wrestling wasn’t controversial enough, he still wants to look forward to competing in other sports. He isn’t bothered by all the hate he’s receiving currently, as he knows he can easily shut his critics down with his excellent performances, and he’s already doing that after his first two season openers with Minnesota, where he destroyed his opponents. Meanwhile, Steveson attended a camp with none other than UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who inspired him to aspire to MMA further.

“He was like, ‘Hey, I think you should go back to wrestling; I think you should try MMA. We have a great team out here in Albuquerque if you want to join us,’“ said Steveson during an interview with Ariel Helwani. Receiving such an invitation from such a big name in the industry is just pure motivation for him to go and start his UFC career already. However, the two-time NCAA champion is primarily focused on securing his third college wrestling title with Minnesota, and he may pursue his MMA career after achieving this goal.