Written by Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Daniel Cormier has the edge over Chael Sonnen at the end of The Ultimate Fighter 33 quarterfinals.
On this week’s episode, Cormier locked in the lead over his coaching rival as his No. 1 welterweight pick Rodrigo Sezinando defeated Sonnen’s No. 1 pick Diego Bianchini via decision. The bout was one of the most anticipated of the season, with Sezinando and Bianchini being shown to have shared plenty of bad blood since the moment they set foot in the TUF house.
That animosity was evident early in Round 1, with Bianchini throwing spinning kicks looking to take Sezinando’s head off, and Sezinando answering with wild haymakers. Neither landed with much success, but Sezinando scored with a couple of trips to disrupt Bianchini. Sezinando also closed the opening round strong to likely go up 10-9 on the scorecards.
Round 2 was much easier to judge as Sezinando tripped Bianchini down to the mat and this time put his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt to good use, pinning Bianchini down and working him over with heavy ground-and-pound. The assault went on for almost four minutes as a bloodied Bianchini failed to get out from under Sezinando.
Shortly after the buzzer rang, Sezinando was declared the winner of the two-round contest.
Cormier finishes the quarterfinals up 5-3 in his coaching matchup with Sonnen, sending three welterweights and two flyweights to the semifinals. The coaches spoke to the fighters individually to help determine the next round of matchups, which are as follows:
Team Cormier’s Alibi Idris vs. Team Sonnen’s Roybert Echeverria
Team Cormier’s Imanol Rodriguez vs. Team Sonnen’s Joseph Morales
Team Cormier’s Daniil Donchenko vs. Team Sonnen’s Matt Dixon
Team Cormier’s Jeff Creighton vs. Team Cormier’s Rodrigo Sezinando
The Ultimate Fighter 33 airs live every Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
Unlike most editions of TUF, coaches Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen will not fight at the conclusion of the season, as both are long retired.
The finalists of the TUF 33 welterweight and flyweight tournaments will compete for a six-figure UFC contract in the show’s live finale fights. A date for those bouts is yet to be announced.
Here are the TUF 33 rosters divided by team:
Team Cormier
Flyweights
Eduardo Henrique (13-2), Brazil
Alibi Idiris (10-0), Kazakhstan
Imanol Rodriguez (5-0), Mexico
Tumelo Manyamala (6-1), South Africa
Welterweights
Rodrigo Sezinando (8-1), Brazil
Daniil Donchenko (11-2), Ukraine
Jeff Creighton (11-2-1), USA
Alex Sanchez (15-3), Mexico
Team Sonnen
Flyweights
Joseph Morales (12-2), USA
Furkatbek Yokubov (13-4), Uzbekistan
Roybert Echeverria (10-2), Venezuela
Arshiyan Memon (7-0), India
Welterweights
Diego Bianchini (9-1), Brazil
Matt Dixon (11-1), USA
Richard Martins (9-1), Brazil
Andreeas Binder (10-1, 1 NC), Ireland
Here are the semifinal matchups:
Flyweight
Alibi Idris vs. Roybert Echeverria
Imanol Rodriguez vs. Joseph Morales
Welterweight
Daniil Donchenko vs. Matt Dixon
Jeff Creighton vs. Rodrigo Sezinando
Here are the quarterfinal results:
Joseph Morales def. Eduardo Henrique via first-round submission (rear-naked choke)
Daniil Donchenko def. Richard Martins via decision
Imanol Rodriguez def. Arshiyan Memon via first-round TKO (strikes)
Jeff Creighton def. Andreeas Binder via decision
Alibi Idiris def. Furkatbek Yokubov via decision
Matt Dixon def. Alex Sanchez via first-round TKO (strikes)
Roybert Echeverria def. Tumelo Manyamala via second-round submission (rear-naked choke)
Rodrigo Sezinando def. Diego Bianchini via decision