Gable Steveson has a taker.
In a regional landscape that doesn’t have hands shooting up to face a former Olympic gold medalist, one man has risen to the occasion for the Nov. 23 bout at Anthony Pettis FC 21 in Albuquerque, N.M. Steveson (1-0) will face Florida-based big man Kevin Hein (2-1), the promotion announced Monday.
Hein, 32, stands 6-foot-2 and weighed 220 pounds for his most recent bout in August, which he lost by second-round TKO under the Combat Night banner. The loss was his first in MMA after a 4-0 amateur stint and a 2-0 professional start with an additional no contest.
Steveson, 25, is one inch shorter at 6-foot-1 but tipped the scales most recently at 256 pounds.
Following a wrestling career that included a gold medal and multiple NCAA Division I titles, Steveson made a stop in WWE and attempted to make an NFL team. He’s since pivoted to combat sports with two knockout wins. He won his MMA debut in September in 98 seconds by ground-and-pound TKO against Braden Peterson in LFA. Steveson then knocked out Billy Swanson in 15 seconds under a hybrid rule set for Dirty Boxing in October.
