Daniel Cormier evened the rating with Chael Sonnen.
Two weeks into The Final Fighter 33 and the rating is twisted up at one win apiece as Group Cormier’s Daniil Donchenko (Ukraine) gained a choice over Group Sonnen’s Richard Martins (Brazil) after two rounds of onerous putting. Ultimately, it was the extra numerous Donchenko that received the higher of the scorecards.
It was Sonnen who picked this matchup after he gained the primary flyweight bout of the season when his No. 1 choose Joseph Morales submitted Cormier’s No. 1 choose Eduardo Henrique in Episode 1. This time, the motion didn’t go his means.
The primary welterweight bout of the season noticed Donchenko come out quick, clipping Martins with leg kicks after which rocking him with a proper hand. Donchenko swarmed for the end, however Martins managed to safe a bodylock to gradual Donchenko down and regain his bearings. From there, Martins battled again as Cormier implored Donchenko to cease loading up for energy punches and return to mixing up his strikes.
Donchenko locked in for almost all of the battle as he used as a gentle weight loss program of leg kicks and counter punches to out-strike a recreation Martins. Within the post-fight recap, Cormier praised Martins for his toughness in a shedding effort.
It was Cormier’s flip to make his first matchup choose of the season and he went together with his No. 3 flyweight choose Imanol Rodriguez (Mexico) to tackle Sonnen’s final flyweight choose Arshiyan Memon (India).
Additionally on the episode, Sonnen introduced in two-time UFC champion and previous TUF competitor T.J. Dillashaw as a visitor coach for his squad. Dillashaw competed on TUF 14, the place he misplaced within the bantamweight ultimate to John Dodson. Nonetheless, Dillashaw constructed off that setback and went on to twice seize 135-pound gold.
The Final Fighter 33 airs dwell each Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
Not like most editions of TUF, coaches Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen won’t battle on the conclusion of the season as each are lengthy retired.
The finalists of the TUF 33 welterweight and flyweight tournaments will compete for a six-figure UFC contract within the present’s dwell finale fights. A date for these bouts is but to be introduced.
Listed below are the TUF 33 rosters divided by workforce:
Group 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 (11-3-1), USA
- Alex Sanchez (15-3), Mexico
Group 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), Eire
Listed below are the quarterfinal outcomes up to now:
Joseph Morales def. Eduardo Henrique through first-round submission (rear-naked choke)
Daniil Donchenko def. Richard Martins through resolution
Advancing to semifinals: Morales, Donchenko
Eradicated: Henrique, Martins
