Daniel Cormier evened the rating with Chael Sonnen.
Two weeks into The Final Fighter 33 and the rating is tangled up at one win apiece as Crew Cormier’s Daniil Donchenko (Ukraine) gained a call over Crew Sonnen’s Richard Martins (Brazil) after two rounds of laborious placing. Ultimately, it was the extra various Donchenko that acquired 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 decide Joseph Morales submitted Cormier’s No. 1 decide Eduardo Henrique in Episode 1. This time, the motion didn’t go his method.
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 sluggish 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 combat as he used as a gentle eating regimen of leg kicks and counter punches to out-strike a sport Martins. Within the post-fight recap, Cormier praised Martins for his toughness in a dropping effort.
It was Cormier’s flip to make his first matchup decide of the season and he went together with his No. 3 flyweight decide Imanol Rodriguez (Mexico) to tackle Sonnen’s final flyweight decide 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 remaining to John Dodson. Nonetheless, Dillashaw constructed off that setback and went on to twice seize 135-pound gold.
The Final Fighter 33 airs reside each Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
In contrast to most editions of TUF, coaches Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen won’t combat 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 reside finale fights. A date for these bouts is but to be introduced.
Listed below are the TUF 33 rosters divided by workforce:
Crew 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
Crew 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 to date:
Joseph Morales def. Eduardo Henrique by way of first-round submission (rear-naked choke)
Daniil Donchenko def. Richard Martins by way of resolution
Advancing to semifinals: Morales, Donchenko
Eradicated: Henrique, Martins
