Daniel Cormier evened the score with Chael Sonnen.
Two weeks into The Ultimate Fighter 33 and the score is knotted up at one win apiece as Team Cormier’s Daniil Donchenko (Ukraine) won a decision over Team Sonnen’s Richard Martins (Brazil) after two rounds of hard striking. In the end, it was the more diverse Donchenko that got the better of the scorecards.
It was Sonnen who picked this matchup after he won the first flyweight bout of the season when his No. 1 pick Joseph Morales submitted Cormier’s No. 1 pick Eduardo Henrique in Episode 1. This time, the action didn’t go his way.
The first welterweight bout of the season saw Donchenko come out fast, clipping Martins with leg kicks and then rocking him with a right hand. Donchenko swarmed for the finish, but Martins managed to secure a bodylock to slow Donchenko down and regain his bearings. From there, Martins battled back as Cormier implored Donchenko to stop loading up for power punches and go back to mixing up his strikes.
Donchenko locked in for the majority of the fight as he used as a steady diet of leg kicks and counter punches to out-strike a game Martins. In the post-fight recap, Cormier praised Martins for his toughness in a losing effort.
It was Cormier’s turn to make his first matchup pick of the season and he went with his No. 3 flyweight pick Imanol Rodriguez (Mexico) to take on Sonnen’s last flyweight pick Arshiyan Memon (India).
Also on the episode, Sonnen brought in two-time UFC champion and past TUF competitor T.J. Dillashaw as a guest coach for his squad. Dillashaw competed on TUF 14, where he lost in the bantamweight final to John Dodson. However, Dillashaw built off that setback and went on to twice capture 135-pound gold.
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 (11-3-1), 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 quarterfinal results so far:
Joseph Morales def. Eduardo Henrique via first-round submission (rear-naked choke)
Daniil Donchenko def. Richard Martins via decision
Advancing to semifinals: Morales, Donchenko
Eliminated: Henrique, Martins
