Chael Sonnen and Daniel Cormier will not fight at the end of The ultimate fighter 33but they must be grossly hoping for bragging rights in their coaching matchups.
Season Premiere of TUF 33 It aired on Tuesday and featured the familiar formulas of two established stars (now UFC Hall of Fame Cormier and Sonnen). This year, the cast consists of eight welterweights and eight flyweights representing a total of 10 countries.
After a short rating period, Cormier won his first pick with a coin toss and went to Brazil’s recent LFA flyweight champion Eduardo Henrique. For his first welterweight pick, Cormier chose Rodrigo Sezinand, another Brazilian currently fighting in Vancouver, Canada.
Sonnen’s first flyweight pick was former UFC fighter Joseph Morales (USA), and his first welterweight pick was Diego Bianquini (Brazil).
See how the team’s roster went down.
Team Cormier
Flyweight
- Eduardo Henrique (13-2), Brazil
- Alibi Idiris (10-0), Kazakhstan
- Imanor Rodriguez (5-0), Mexico
- South African compassion tension (6-1)
Welterweight
- Natalo’s Rodrigo (8-1), Brazil
- Danil Donchenko (11-2), Ukraine
Jeff Clayton (11-3-1), USA
- Alex Sanchez (15-3), Mexico
Team Sun
Flyweight
- Joseph Morales (12-2), USA
- Furkatbek Yokubov (13-4), Uzbekistan
Roybert Echeverria (10-2), Venezuela
- Arshiyan Memon (7-0), India
Welterweight
- Diego Bianchini (9-1), Brazil
Matt Dixon (11-1), USA
- Richard Martins (9-1), Brazil
- Andreeas Binder (10-1, 1 NC), Ireland
Sonnen commented that he felt that Cormier had made a mistake not choosing Morales the first first, and backed up the story when it was time to book the first matchup of the season. Targeting Cormier’s top pick, Sonnen pitted Morales against Henrique.
The move proved wise as Morales’ UFC experience and high-level grappling are too much for his more impressive competitor, Henrique. Henrique landed some good shots on his feet, but Morales managed to beat him in over three minutes to work in round one. Morales actively robbed Henrique’s back and eventually locked him in a choke behind the end of the fight, progressing to the flyweight semi-finals, leading the coach Cormier 1-0.
Morales won his first battle since February 2023. He previously competed in the UFC from 2017 to 2018, scoring a 1-2 record. In his UFC debut, he submitted Roberto Sanchez within the round, but then lost back-to-back battles between Deiveson Figueiredo and Eric Shelton. Before his recent break, Morales had won three games in a row.
With Cormier choosing to choose his first matchup and the first fighter, it was Sonnen’s turn again to book the opening welterweight match of the season, and he chose Richard Martins (Brazil) to face team Cormier’s Danil Donchenko (Ukraine) on next week’s episode.
The ultimate fighter 33 Airs will perform live on ESPN+ every Tuesday at 10pm.
Unlike most editions of tufcoaches Daniel Cormier and Charle Sonnen will not compete at the end of the season as both have retired for a long time.
Finalists of TUF 33 Welterweight and Flyweight Tourments compete for a six-figure UFC deal in the show’s live finale battle. The dates for these matches have not been announced yet.
Here are the results of the quarterfinals so far:
Joseph Morales def. Eduardo Henrique via first round submission (rear naked choke)
Morales to the semi-finals: Morales
Removal: Henrike