Gable Steveson is an Olympic gold medalist, former University of Minnesota wrestling star and UFC heavyweight whose 2019 arrest in a criminal sexual conduct investigation resurfaced publicly in September 2026 ahead of his UFC 331 fight against Sean Sharaf.
Steveson and University of Minnesota wrestling teammate Dylan Martinez were arrested in June 2019 after a woman reported that she had been raped and went to a hospital for treatment. Both men were investigated for criminal sexual conduct.
Neither Steveson nor Martinez was ultimately charged. After a months-long investigation, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced that prosecutors had concluded there was inadequate evidence to fairly prosecute the case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Freeman also said Minnesota’s law at the time concerning intoxication and a person’s legal capacity to consent significantly restricted prosecutors. Minnesota later changed its sexual-assault statutes so that a person can be considered incapable of consenting because of severe intoxication even when that person voluntarily consumed the alcohol or drugs.
Why Was Gable Steveson Arrested In 2019?
Steveson and fellow Minnesota wrestler Dylan Martinez were arrested on June 15, 2019, on suspicion of criminal sexual conduct. Police became involved after a person reported a rape and sought treatment at a hospital. [Star Tribune] [Associated Press Via ESPN]
Steveson was 19 at the time and was already one of the country’s leading collegiate heavyweight wrestlers. Martinez was 21. [Star Tribune]
What Was Gable Steveson Accused Of?
A Minneapolis police report said the investigation concerned an allegation that Steveson and Martinez sexually penetrated a woman with an object. The woman received treatment at a hospital following the alleged incident. [Star Tribune]
The initial police report contained few other details about what allegedly occurred, and prosecutors later declined to publicly describe the evidence in detail because they said they did not want to re-victimize the woman who reported the incident. [Hennepin County Attorney]
Were Gable Steveson And Dylan Martinez Charged With Rape?
No. They were arrested on suspicion of criminal sexual conduct but were never formally criminally charged.
That distinction is important because some later summaries of the case incorrectly describe charges as having been filed and then dismissed. Prosecutors instead declined to file charges after reviewing the investigation. [Hennepin County Attorney]
Steveson And Martinez Were Initially Released Without Charges
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office first released Steveson and Martinez from custody on June 18, 2019, without filing charges. Prosecutors said at that stage that the investigation remained active and that they would continue working with Minneapolis police and reviewing additional evidence. [Hennepin County Attorney]
The two men had been held for approximately 36 hours, the period prosecutors had available before they had to either charge them or release them from custody. [Hennepin County Attorney]
The Investigation Continued For About Six Months
The June release did not end the criminal investigation. Minneapolis police continued investigating the allegations, and Steveson and Martinez remained suspended from the University of Minnesota wrestling team while the case remained unresolved. [Star Tribune]
The evidence reviewed by prosecutors eventually included police reports, interviews with participants, DNA evidence and other forensic evidence. [Star Tribune]
Why Were No Charges Filed Against Gable Steveson?
On December 20, 2019, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced that prosecutors had determined there was inadequate evidence to fairly charge and prosecute the case. [Hennepin County Attorney]
Freeman said sexual-assault cases must meet the same beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard as other criminal prosecutions and that conflicting versions of events existed in the Steveson-Martinez investigation. [Hennepin County Attorney]
The prosecutor thanked the woman for reporting the incident and specifically referred to her as a victim while explaining why his office would not publicly disclose additional details. [Star Tribune]
Did A Minnesota “Loophole” Prevent Gable Steveson From Being Charged?
Minnesota’s intoxication law was a significant factor identified by prosecutors, but the public record does not support saying it was the sole reason Steveson was not charged.
Freeman explicitly said his office was operating under “significant constraints” because of Minnesota’s then-existing laws concerning intoxication and a victim’s ability to consent. At the same time, his formal charging decision said the case lacked sufficient evidence to fairly prosecute beyond a reasonable doubt. [Star Tribune] [Hennepin County Attorney]
Freeman did not state that Steveson would definitely have been charged under a different law. Steveson’s attorney likewise argued that changing the intoxication statute would not have changed the outcome of the investigation. [Associated Press Via ESPN]
What Was Minnesota’s Voluntary Intoxication Problem?
At the time of the 2019 investigation, Minnesota’s definition of a “mentally incapacitated” sexual-assault victim was unusually restrictive when alcohol or drugs were involved.
The statute defined mental incapacitation in connection with intoxicants largely around substances administered to a person without that person’s agreement. That created a legal distinction between someone involuntarily drugged or intoxicated and someone who voluntarily consumed alcohol before becoming incapable of giving meaningful consent.
Freeman contrasted Minnesota’s law with Wisconsin law, which provided prosecutors broader authority in cases where a defendant knew or should have known that intoxication impaired another person’s ability to consent. [Star Tribune]
The Minnesota Supreme Court Later Exposed The Same Legal Problem
The issue gained statewide attention again in the separate 2021 case State v. Khalil. The Minnesota Supreme Court held that under the statute then in force, a woman who voluntarily consumed alcohol did not meet the statutory definition of “mentally incapacitated” based solely on that intoxication. [Minnesota Supreme Court]
The ruling reversed a third-degree criminal sexual conduct conviction because the law required the intoxicating substance to have been administered without the person’s agreement for that particular definition of mental incapacitation to apply. [Minnesota Supreme Court]
Minnesota Changed Its Sexual Assault Law In 2021
Minnesota lawmakers subsequently rewrote the statute. The revised definition expressly includes a person who is under the influence of a substance to such a degree that the person is incapable of consenting or incapable of appreciating, understanding or controlling their conduct. [Minnesota Legislature]
The change took effect on September 15, 2021, and applies to crimes committed on or after that date. [Minnesota Legislature]
The revised law means voluntary consumption of alcohol does not by itself prevent prosecutors from arguing that an extremely intoxicated person was incapable of consenting.
Was The Law Changed Specifically Because Of Gable Steveson’s Case?
It is more accurate to say the Steveson investigation became one example cited in the broader debate over Minnesota’s intoxication law rather than saying lawmakers changed the law specifically because of him.
Hennepin County Attorney Freeman was already publicly advocating for a broader intoxication statute when he announced the decision not to charge Steveson and Martinez in 2019. The separate State v. Khalil ruling in March 2021 then brought the statutory problem into much wider public focus before lawmakers enacted the amendment later that year. [Hennepin County Attorney] [Minnesota Supreme Court]
What Did Gable Steveson Say About The Allegations?
Steveson has maintained his innocence since the investigation began. His attorney, Christa Groshek, said shortly after his arrest that he was shocked, was cooperating with investigators and believed he had done nothing wrong. [Associated Press Via Fox Sports]
After prosecutors announced that no charges would be filed, Groshek said Steveson was “100 percent innocent” and had been forthright with police throughout the investigation. [Star Tribune]
The University Of Minnesota Suspended Steveson
The University of Minnesota suspended both Steveson and Martinez from wrestling-team activities after their arrests. The university cited its student-athlete code of conduct while the criminal investigation remained pending. [Associated Press Via ESPN]
The athletes remained under team restrictions for months while prosecutors and police continued reviewing the case. [Star Tribune]
Minnesota Reinstated Steveson After Prosecutors Declined Charges
The university lifted Steveson’s and Martinez’s suspensions on December 20, 2019, after Hennepin County prosecutors announced that they would not file charges. Both athletes became immediately eligible to return to team activities. [Star Tribune]
Steveson returned to competition that same day and defeated South Dakota State heavyweight Blake Wolters. [Star Tribune]
Steveson Later Became An Olympic Champion
After returning to wrestling, Steveson became one of the most accomplished heavyweight wrestlers in American history. He won NCAA Division I heavyweight championships in 2021 and 2022 and captured the Olympic freestyle wrestling gold medal at the Tokyo Games. [Buffalo Bills]
Steveson won the Olympic final with a dramatic last-second takedown of Georgia’s Geno Petriashvili and became the youngest American freestyle wrestler to win Olympic super-heavyweight gold. [Buffalo Bills]
Gable Steveson Later Joined WWE And The Buffalo Bills
Steveson signed with WWE in 2021 after his Olympic victory. The professional-wrestling promotion released him in May 2024. [MMA Fighting]
He then attempted an unusual transition to professional football despite never having played organized football. The Buffalo Bills signed him as an undrafted defensive tackle in May 2024. [Buffalo Bills]
Steveson appeared in Buffalo’s preseason games but was waived in August 2024 before the regular season. [MMA Fighting]
Gable Steveson Then Moved Into MMA
Steveson began his professional mixed-martial-arts career in 2025 and entered the UFC in 2026. He made his UFC debut on July 11, 2026, stopping Elisha Ellison with strikes in the first round. [UFC]
His official UFC profile lists him as undefeated with four professional victories and four first-round knockouts entering UFC 331. [UFC]
Why Did The Gable Steveson Allegations Resurface In 2026?
The case returned to public attention after Steveson became a UFC heavyweight and was matched against Sean Sharaf at UFC 331. Sharaf began publicly criticizing the UFC for heavily promoting Steveson and explicitly raised the 2019 allegations. [Sherdog Via Yahoo Sports]
Sharaf accused the UFC of giving Steveson more promotional opportunities while overlooking his own background as a Marine and repeatedly referred to the old sexual-assault investigation in social-media comments. [Sherdog Via Yahoo Sports]
Sean Sharaf Called Gable Steveson A “Rapist” At The UFC 331 Press Conference
The confrontation escalated during the September 17, 2026 UFC 331 press conference in Los Angeles. Asked about his feelings toward Steveson, Sharaf directly called him a “rapist” and asserted that Steveson had raped a woman in 2019. [MMA Junkie Via Yahoo Sports]
Sharaf later called Steveson “Loophole,” an apparent reference to the controversy surrounding Minnesota’s former intoxication statute. [Athlon Sports Via Yahoo Sports]
Sharaf’s characterization is his allegation. No court has found Steveson guilty of rape, and prosecutors never charged him with the offense.
How Did Gable Steveson Respond To Sean Sharaf?
Steveson did not substantively re-litigate the 2019 accusations during the UFC press conference. Instead, he called Sharaf a coward for making the accusation and said his opponent was already looking for an excuse ahead of their fight. [MMA Junkie Via Yahoo Sports]
When Sharaf called him “Loophole,” Steveson responded sarcastically and shifted the exchange back toward their scheduled fight. [Athlon Sports Via Yahoo Sports]
What Does The “Loophole” Nickname Actually Mean?
The nickname refers to Minnesota’s former distinction between voluntary and involuntary intoxication when determining whether a person was legally mentally incapacitated.
The law did create a significant limitation in sexual-assault prosecutions involving a person who had voluntarily consumed alcohol. Prosecutor Mike Freeman specifically said that limitation constrained his office during the Steveson-Martinez case. [Star Tribune]
However, describing Steveson as having escaped criminal charges solely through a “loophole” goes beyond the official charging decision. Freeman also cited conflicting accounts and inadequate evidence to meet the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard. [Hennepin County Attorney]
Was Gable Steveson Cleared Or Exonerated?
The most precise description is that prosecutors declined to charge him because they concluded there was inadequate evidence to fairly prosecute the case.
A decision not to charge is not a criminal conviction, but it is also different from a trial verdict declaring factual innocence. No trial occurred, no jury heard the evidence and no judge entered a finding about whether the alleged encounter occurred as either side described it.
Steveson and his attorney have consistently maintained that he did nothing wrong. [Star Tribune]
No Criminal Conviction Resulted From The 2019 Allegations
Steveson has no criminal conviction arising from the 2019 sexual-assault investigation. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office formally announced on December 20, 2019 that no criminal sexual conduct charges would be filed against either Steveson or Martinez. [Hennepin County Attorney]
The allegations resurfacing during Steveson’s UFC career do not change that legal outcome.
One of the first political bloggers in the world, Oliver Willis has operated OliverWillis.com since 2000. Contributor at Media Matters for America and The American Independent. Follow on Twitter at @owillis. Full bio.