Olympic wrestling champion Gable Steveson has made a stunning allegation about his canceled superfight with Craig Jones, claiming that Jones asked him to throw the bout.

The two were scheduled to headline CJI 2 in what was billed as one of the biggest crossover matches in recent grappling history.
But just days before the event, the matchup collapsed when Steveson pulled out citing a toe injury.

The sudden withdrawal left the event in chaos and fueled speculation ever since.

At first, it seemed like a straightforward injury withdrawal.
However, Steveson raised eyebrows when he made his professional MMA debut just two weeks later, looking dominant in the cage.

That led to questions from fans – and even Jones himself – about whether the injury was serious or whether Steveson had chosen to prioritize his MMA career.

Now, in a recent interview with Ariel Helwani, Steveson revealed a much more dramatic version of events:

That match came about in February, the match was gonna happen. You know, we met up a few times, everything was all good.

Long story short, (there was) a couple of funky stipulations around there that we didn’t agree upon, they wanted to keep it, I got turf toe and wasn’t there.

When Helwani pressed him on those “funky stipulations”, Steveson hinted that they involved more than just rule disagreements.
Pushing further, Helwani asked for clarification – and Steveson dropped the bombshell:

There was a look in the eye of saying: “Hey, I’m gonna retire after this match. I don’t wanna take this loss, can you do this for me?”

And we’ll leave it as that.

Craig Jones took to Instagram to challenge a contradiction in Steveson’s explanation.

He asked:
“So you agreed to a scripted match? But then you claim you got injured and had to pull out of something that was predetermined. How does that make sense?”

Jones pointed out that if the outcome was fixed, an injury wouldn’t have changed the result. His comment directly exposed a gap in Steveson’s story.

Meanwhile, Gordon Ryan—who has recently been supportive of Steveson—initially framed the withdrawal as a calculated, strategic move. But after Steveson’s interview, Ryan shifted tone, posting:

“Crooked Creg freaking out because Gable said he asked him to throw the match. Let’s think: did the Chael fight look real or staged? Craig had that match right in front of him, and now we’re questioning if he’d want Gable to fake a match? The whole event was as fake as his IG persona.”

Ryan’s comments suggest he first saw Steveson’s decision as business, not ethics, but later leaned into the narrative of manipulation.

Several points weaken Steveson’s claims:

• He only mentioned the alleged “fix” after backlash from fans about his last-minute withdrawal.

• His account doesn’t line up—pulling out of a predetermined match because of injury doesn’t logically fit.

• His explanation leans on implication rather than any direct request.

• Even his training partner Gordon Ryan originally painted the withdrawal as strategy, not moral resistance.

On the other side, Jones has built his credibility on real competition and transparent event production, with the Craig Jones Invitational known for open scoring and high-quality organization.

Steveson’s background is strong—Olympic gold, a brief WWE run, now transitioning into MMA—but many question his competitive focus. His attempt to portray himself as resisting unethical pressure clashes with inconsistencies in his timeline, Jones’s straightforward rebuttal, and the fact that his criminal past still clouds his reputation—explaining why many WWE fans never embraced him despite his athletic accomplishments.

Ultimately, Jones’s simple question—how could an injury derail a fixed outcome?—cuts to the core weakness of Steveson’s story.

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