The second episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Cormier vs. Team Sonnen began with a special appearance.
UFC president Dana White teased in the first episode that because this year marks the 20th anniversary of the inaugural TUF season there would be guest coaches throughout the season comprised of alumni who ended up later winning a UFC title.
Former bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw was the first guest coach, giving some pointers and advice to the participating fighters before the action in the cage resumed and the welterweight tournament got underway.
Spoilers below for TUF 33, Episode 2:
FIRST WELTERWEIGHT MATCHUP
It was established in the premiere episode that Team Sonnen had control of fight selection for the first 170-pound bout of the season.
Chael Sonnen selected Richard Martins to face Team Cormier’s Daniil Donchenko.
Martins, 9-1 from Brazil, has a brown belt in jiu-jitsu, but he informed his coach that he planned on striking Donchenko, with wrestling and grappling as his backup plan.
That game plan was met with some skepticism from Sonnen since Donchenko, 11-2 from Ukraine, is regarded as a creative and talented striker.
Donchenko is also a teammate of TUF 32 middleweight finalist Robert Valentin out of Tiger Muay Thai in Thailand.
The episode didn’t feature any in-house shenanigans, so it was mostly all business and fight preparation.
Donchenko, 23, wasted no time once they were in the cage and the action began, pressing forward and rocking Martins, 26, with an overhand right early and followed up with a flurry of punches along the fence as Martins stumbled backwards.
Referee Herb Dean offered a quick “fight back” warning to Martins and nearly halted the action before Martins grabbed a hold of Donchenko to recover and prevent additional damage.
Daniel Cormier repeatedly shouted instructions to Donchenko from the corner, such as “take your time,” “don’t load up,” and “just touch him” to settle the youngster down and not expend too much energy too early.
In between rounds, Sonnen implored Martins to be more aggressive if he insisted on striking with Donchenko.
Martins was more active to begin Round 2 but it was ultimately not enough to extend the fight to a third and deciding round.
TUF bouts are exhibitions, so if after two rounds the judges have one fighter unanimously ahead on the scorecards, then a winner is announced and no third round takes place.
The fighters went back to their respective corners after the second round and the referee, after getting word from the judges, announced the fight was over with Donchenko winning a two-round decision.
“Richard had some good exchanges, but Daniil was just too much for him,” White said after the 10-minute scrap. “By the end, Richard found his footing but it was too late. A clear win for Daniil.”
Donchenko becomes the first fighter to advance to the semifinals in the 170-pound tournament.
The next episode will feature the second flyweight tournament matchup of the season. Team Sonnen’s top pick, Joseph Morales, submitted Cormier’s top choice, Eduardo Chapolin, early in the first 125-pound matchup of the season.
Sonnen got to choose the first two matchups of the season, which meant it was finally Cormier’s turn to pick a pairing and he went with 5-0 Imanol Rodriguez from his team to face 7-0 Arshiyan Memon of Team Sonnen.
Mexico’s Rodriguez has finished all of his pro bouts; so has Memon, who is making history as the first fighter from India to compete on The Ultimate Fighter.
