Gable Steveson is reportedly headed back to the Octagon on January 30, when he’s expected to face Terrance Chatman at UFC 336 in Toronto. The Instagram account Connected MMA broke the matchup, and Championship Rounds amplified it on X. As of Friday night the UFC hadn’t released the full lineup, so treat this as reported and not official.
The timing is the story. Steveson, 27, hasn’t fought since September, when Sean Sharaf knocked him out 12 seconds into their fight at UFC 331. That ended his unbeaten run in pro MMA after four straight wins to open his career, and BJPenn.com called it one of the biggest upsets in UFC history. A lot of people who had him penciled in as a future heavyweight champion quietly erased the pencil marks. A January date puts him back in there roughly four months after the loss, which is a quick turnaround for a guy whose whole brand rested on looking untouchable.
Before Sharaf, things were going according to the brochure. Steveson stopped Elisha Ellison in the first round at UFC 329, and Jon Jones, who retired from MMA last year and now coaches and mentors him, had been calling him the promotion’s next great heavyweight. UFC 336 will be his third appearance in the Octagon.
Chatman’s year has been rough in a different way. He opened his career 4-1, with all four wins coming in Fury FC, then earned a UFC contract on Dana White’s Contender Series. Eleven days after that, he took a fight with former NFL player Anthony Wint at UFC Sacramento in August, and Wint choked him unconscious in the first round. That leaves Chatman at 5-2, and January will be his second UFC appearance.
So the matchup is two heavyweights who both got put to sleep in their last outing. Somebody’s going to have a much better winter than the other one.
The card around them is loaded. Joshua Van defends the flyweight title for the third time against Manel Kape in the main event, and Carlos Prates meets Michael Morales for the interim welterweight belt with Islam Makhachev out of the picture. UFC 336 is the first numbered event of 2027.
My take: this is a rebuild fight, and the matchmakers aren’t hiding it. Chatman has seven pro fights, one of which he took on 11 days’ notice right after the biggest night of his career, and he got finished. That’s a fair spot for a wrestler with Steveson’s credentials to get his hands back on someone and drag the fight where he wants it. My worry is the market. A 12-second loss usually scares bettors off a favorite for about a week, and then the Olympic gold medal talks them right back in. When lines open, I’ll be looking for a number on Chatman that’s longer than it has any right to be. Heavyweight is the division where the guy nobody respects has a puncher’s chance every single round. Sharaf proved that in September, and he needed 12 seconds to do it.
