The semifinal matchups kicked off on the ninth episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Cormier vs. Team Sonnen.
Team Cormier’s Alibi Idiris was paired with Team Sonnen’s Roybert Echeverria in the flyweight bracket.
Idiris won his quarterfinal matchup with a high-volume performance against Furkatbek Yokubov. After smothering Yokubov with pressure he was able to take the fight to the ground and submit Yokubov with an arm-triangle choke in the second round.
Echeverria advanced to the semifinals thanks to a second-round submission win over Tumelo Manyamala in a fight that saw Echeverria start slowly but be persistent with his game plan until he found a rear-naked choke.
Spoilers below for TUF 33, Episode 9:
Before the fighters took to the scales to weigh-in, Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen competed in a coaches’ challenge which is a longstanding tradition on the show. This year they played a game of pickleball with Cormier winning a $20,000 prize that he divvied up to his team members.
Former two-time women’s bantamweight champion and a past TUF winner Julianna Pena was brought in by Team Sonnen for a training session as a special guest coach.
Also, Echeverria and Idiris were granted the opportunity to speak with their families on a video call to break the monotony of being isolated from the outside world while filming the show.
Idiris started quickly like he’s known to do, mixing in punches, kicks, spinning attacks and the occasional takedown attempt while operating at a relentless pace.
Echeverria began taking back some momentum by landing hard body shots in the back half of the opening round, however Idiris eventually secured a trip takedown.
As Echeverria scrambled back to his feet late in Round 1, Idiris timed a huge flying knee perfectly that rocked Echeverria. A few follow-up punches later and the referee stepped in to stop the fight.
“This kid is hell, man,” Cormier said of Idiris. “He’s tough to deal with.”
Idiris moves onto the 125-pound finals and will face the winner of Team Cormier’s Imanol Rodriguez vs. Team Sonnen’s Joseph Morales.
Next week, the welterweight semifinals get underway with the first teammate vs. teammate matchup of the season as Team Cormier’s Rodrigo Sezinando takes on Team Cormier’s Jeff Creighton.
