Ex-champ suggests Gable Steveson take drastic measure to rebound from UFC 331 KO
· Yahoo Sports
Henry Cejudo wants to see growth out of Gable Steveson after UFC 331.
Visit milkshake.it.com for more information.
Sean Sharaf (5-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) scored one of the biggest upsets in UFC history when he knocked out Steveson (4-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) in just 12 seconds this past Saturday at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Like Cejudo, Steveson is an Olympic gold medalist wrestler. Cejudo showed massive strides in his striking after he lost two straight fights then returned almost a year later to knock out Wilson Reis. He advises the same course of action for Steveson, who is still very early in his career.
"To me, I'm not surprised, and I hate to say this," Cejudo said on his "Pound 4 Pound" podcast with Kamaru Usman. "You cannot hurry up in this game, and I hope Bo Nickal can also see this sh*t, too. Like, man, you've got to be able to respect the game, focus on mixed martial arts and just do that. My next thing for Gable Steveson, and I'm going to tell you right now: He needs to take a whole f*cking year and get better defensively.
"Because if you're just going to strike, then just strike for one full year. You're still young. Forget about anything else you're doing with matches and grappling and all this other stuff. If your plan is to be the best in the world, forget about all of that and just focus on your striking, focus on your defense, and do the whole nine. Because that chin, bro, when it's touched, it's going to go, man."
Steveson did not appear to handle the loss well after exiting the octagon before the outcome was even announced by Bruce Buffer. However, his mentor, Jon Jones, later revealed that it was his idea to have him leave the cage early.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Ex-champ suggests Gable Steveson take drastic measure to rebound from UFC 331 KO