Sean Sharaf KOs Gable Steveson in 12 Seconds at UFC 331

Massive underdog Sean Sharaf knocked out Olympic champion Gable Steveson just 12 seconds into their UFC 331 fight in one of MMA's biggest upsets.

Sean Sharaf, a retired U.S. Marine and former Marine Corps veteran, stepped into the Octagon at crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Saturday night and needed only 12 seconds to dispatch Gable Steveson. After Steveson opened with a leg kick, Sharaf looped a picture-perfect left hand over his opponent's extended arms, dropping the heavyweight to the canvas before follow-up strikes sealed the finish.

Steveson entered as one of the most heavily favored fighters in recent UFC memory. CBS Sports listed him as a -2400 favorite, while Yahoo Sports reported odds as steep as -1800 and called the result the biggest betting upset in UFC history at DraftKings. Sharaf was winless in two prior Octagon appearances, having been stopped by Junior Tafa and Steven Asplund, and Sports Illustrated reported he likely would have been cut with a third straight loss. Instead, he delivered what Sports Illustrated described as one of the biggest upsets in combat sports history.

Sharaf, 33, joined the UFC in 2024 with a 4-0 record but entered Saturday night 0-2 in the promotion after back-to-back stoppage defeats. Yahoo Sports reported he was more than a 10-to-1 underdog at several sportsbooks. He spent fight week telling anyone who would listen that he would beat the heavily favored Steveson, according to CBS Sports, and remained unfazed by the hype throughout the buildup, per Sports Illustrated. After the win, he echoed Nate Diaz's famous line, saying "I'm not surprised" and crediting hard work and prayer for the victory.

Steveson, 26, was regarded as one of the most decorated amateur wrestlers of his era. He entered the UFC with five first-round knockout wins across multiple combat sports disciplines and had Jon Jones in his corner as a coach and primary mentor, Yahoo Sports reported, making his first career loss all the more jarring.

The loss is the first of Steveson's professional MMA career, dropping him to 4-1, and it derails what had been viewed as a fast track to heavyweight title contention. MMA Mania reported that Jones was left speechless after the knockout, and CBS Sports noted Steveson will be forced back to the drawing board. For Sharaf, the win likely saved his UFC roster spot, per Sports Illustrated, and made him the frontrunner for MMA's "Upset of the Year." The result also marked the second major upset in a month involving elite wrestling lineage, after Bella Mir dropped a decision on Dana White's Contender Series, according to Sports Illustrated.

The immediate question is how Steveson and his team, including coach Jon Jones, respond to the first setback of his MMA career, a problem Yahoo Sports framed as figuring out what went so horribly wrong. Sharaf, meanwhile, moves to 4-2 and announced himself as one of the sport's most unlikely feel-good stories, declaring in his post-fight interview that he believed in himself when nobody else did. Steveson left the cage under his own power, per Yahoo Sports, easing immediate health concerns as both fighters chart very different paths forward from a 12-second night in Los Angeles.