Olympic gold medalist wrestler Gable Stevenson has revealed plans to travel to Dagestan in the coming weeks, as he prepares for his upcoming grappling match against submission specialist Craig Jones.
Stevenson, who was spotted at a recent Dirty Boxing (DBX) event, shared that he received an invitation from two-time Olympic champion Abdulrashid Sadulaev to train in Dagestan ahead of the world championships.
“There’s a guy named Abdulrashid Sadulaev. He’s a 97 kg two-time Olympic champion. He reached out about me coming to Dagistan to help him train for this year’s world championship,” Stevenson told HoF in an interview. “So maybe I’ll be in Dagestan . They gonna send me Dagestan in two, three weeks and forget.”
The wrestling star appears confident about the training opportunity, despite Dagestan ‘s reputation for intense training environments. “But you can’t send somebody Dagestan two, three weeks who already knows how to wrestle. So I’m going to show up and do my thing,” he added.
This training stint comes as Stevenson prepares for his grappling match against Craig Jones, where he boldly predicts he’ll not only compete but win by submission. When asked about how he’ll match up against the accomplished grappler, Stevenson confidently stated, “I might come out there and sit on my butt and submit him the way he’s trying to submit me.”
Stevenson’s combat sports journey has been expanding beyond wrestling. He’s been training with UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones, describing the experience as “one of a kind.” While he isn’t sparring with Jones, Stevenson confirmed his interest in potentially transitioning to MMA.
“I’m very interested in it,” Stevenson said regarding a potential UFC career. “But you know, you want to take your time. You want to have the right training. You want to have the right path to get where you need to go.”
Stevenson prepares for both his grappling match and possible MMA future, the Dagistan training camp represents an important step in his development as a complete combat sports athlete.
