Jones backs Steveson to rebound after 12-second UFC debut knockout defeat

Jon Jones is standing firmly behind Gable Steveson after the Olympic wrestling gold medalist suffered a 12-second knockout loss to Sean Sharaf at UFC 331 in September — the first professional MMA defeat of Steveson’s career. The former two-division UFC champion said his protégé has already returned to the gym and is in the right frame of mind to respond.

Sharaf’s finish was brutal in its brevity, but Jones was quick to contextualise the setback by pointing to other elite fighters who absorbed early losses before going on to define the sport.

“Gable’s doing great,” Jones said in an interview with The Schmo. “I believe in Gable. I believe in the man and the person that he is. And if you think about it, all the great fighters have had knockouts and losses. I mean, GSP [Georges St. Pierre] vs. Matt Serra — there’s just so many examples. He’s in the right headspace. He’s right back to training.”

Beyond the motivational support, Jones also outlined a concrete tactical adjustment the team intends to make going forward: a significant increase in sparring volume.

“I feel like, as a team, we need to add a lot more sparring and we have our little things that we can work on as a team, but he’s in great hands,” Jones added. “He has great mentors and a great team around him, and we believe he is going to pull back in an amazing way.”

Steveson arrived in the UFC with considerable fanfare. A dominant amateur wrestler who claimed Olympic gold at the 2020 Tokyo Games, he was widely regarded as one of the most athletically gifted prospects to enter the promotion in recent years. The speed of his defeat to Sharaf underlined how steep the learning curve can be for wrestlers transitioning to MMA, regardless of their credentials on the mat.

Jones, who holds victories over some of the greatest fighters in UFC history, has taken an active mentoring role in Steveson’s development. His public backing — and the acknowledgement that the team itself has adjustments to make — suggests the camp views the loss as a correctable setback rather than a fundamental question mark over Steveson’s potential.