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Daniel Cormier has his first finalist on The Ultimate Fighter 33.
This week’s episode kicked off the flyweight semifinals and it was Team Cormier’s Alibi Idris (Kazakhstan) who continued to impress as he put away Team Chael Sonnen’s Roybert Echeverria (Venezuela) in the first round.
Idris brought constant pressure to the pivotal contest, throwing big punches right out of the gate. Cormier actually had to tell Idris to slow down, but in the end Idris’ aggression paid off. After stuffing an Echeverria takedown attempt, Idris turned the tables by walking him down and then scoring a takedown of his own.
Echeverria fought hard to get out from under Idris, but left himself vulnerable as he attempted to stand. Idris threw out a lightning-fast flying knee that rocked Echeverria, allowing Idris to follow up with strikes for a technical knockout.
Idris is now the first TUF 33 fighter to advance to this season’s finale. He awaits either teammate Imanol Rodriguez (Mexico) or Team Sonnen’s Joseph Morales (USA), who compete in the other flyweight semifinal.
Next week’s episode sees two Team Cormier fighters compete in the first welterweight semifinal as Jeff Creighton (USA) fights Rodrigo Sezinando (Brazil).
The fight result was just Cormier adding insult to injury as he also defeated Sonnen in this season’s Coaches’ Challenge. Cormier and Sonnen faced off in a best two-out-of-three match of pickleball, which turned out to be a one-sided contest.
Sonnen offered little resistance as Cormier ran up the score, only managing points himself when Cormier repeatedly foot faulted. Despite Cormier getting heated with the officials, he in control for the majority of the contest and easily won two games to defeat Sonnen and earn a $10,000 prize for himself and $2,500 for each of his team members.
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 results and matchups:
Flyweight
Alibi Idris def. Roybert Echeverria via first-round TKO (strikes)
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
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