Gable Steveson Pulls the Jon Jones Staredown and Gets Booed for It
The Olympic gold medalist refused to look at Sean Sharaf during their final UFC 331 faceoff, calling it normal Jon Jones protocol.
Gable Steveson is leaning hard into the Jon Jones playbook heading into UFC 331, and the Los Angeles crowd is not having it.
During Friday's final faceoff for Saturday night's heavyweight bout at Crypto.com Arena, the Olympic gold medalist refused to make eye contact with opponent Sean Sharaf. Steveson later explained the move as standard operating procedure from his mentor. He called it "normal Jon Jones protocol," per MMA Mania.
Jones himself offered a public blessing on Instagram, commenting on a Steveson training post: "Trust in your training, you're doing amazing right now. Excited to watch you dominate." The two have trained together in Albuquerque since Jones prepared for his fight against Stipe Miocic, and Steveson has described the former champion as "definitely my brother."
Sharaf, who sits at 0-2 in the UFC, used the pre-fight press conference to take personal shots at Steveson, per Cagesidepress. Steveson waved it off with a smile. "Good luck. It's gonna be a short night for you, buddy," he told Sharaf, per LowKick MMA. He also compared Sharaf to Peter McNeeley walking into a Mike Tyson fight.
The crowd booed Steveson heavily throughout the press conference, but the 26-year-old did not seem rattled. He is a massive -2000 betting favorite and has publicly stated his goal of fighting for the UFC heavyweight championship in 2027.
Whether the Jones cosplay endears him to fans or not, Steveson appears locked in. The heavyweight bout is part of a stacked UFC 331 card headlined by Joshua Van vs. Alexandre Pantoja for the flyweight title.
The no-eye-contact staredown is Jon Jones's thing, and it works for Jon Jones because Jon Jones has 20 years of ruining people to back it up. Steveson is 4-0. Borrowing the greatest fighter ever's mind games before you have earned any of it is exactly why an LA crowd booed him through an entire press conference.
The Peter McNeeley comparison is the part that will age either brilliantly or terribly. Sharaf is 0-2 in the UFC and the line is -2000, so the math says Gable is right. But calling a heavyweight with hands a short night is the kind of thing that ends up in the highlight package if the wrong punch lands.
My read on the bet: -2000 is an absurd price for a guy with four pro fights, no matter how good the wrestling is. I would not touch it. Steveson probably wins, but nobody should be laying that number on a prospect. Heavyweights have hands and Sharaf only needs one.
