The Ultimate Fighter 33: Daniel Cormier vs. Chael Sonnen Episode 8 results, semifinal matchups revealed

Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Daniel Cormier has the edge over Chael Sonnen at the end of The Ultimate Fighter 33 quarterfinals.

On this week’s episode, Cormier locked in the lead over his coaching rival as his No. 1 welterweight pick Rodrigo Sezinando defeated Sonnen’s No. 1 pick Diego Bianchini via decision. The bout was one of the most anticipated of the season, with Sezinando and Bianchini being shown to have shared plenty of bad blood since the moment they set foot in the TUF house.

That animosity was evident early in Round

1, with Bianchini throwing spinning kicks looking to take Sezinando’s head off, and Sezinando answering with wild haymakers. Neither landed with much success, but Sezinando scored with a couple of trips to disrupt Bianchini. Sezinando also closed the opening round strong to likely go up 10-9 on the scorecards.

Round 2 was much easier to judge as Sezinando tripped Bianchini down to the mat and this time put his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt to good use, pinning Bianchini down and working him over with heavy ground-and-pound. The assault went on for almost four minutes as a bloodied Bianchini failed to get out from under Sezinando.

Shortly after the buzzer rang, Sezinando was declared the winner of the two-round contest.

Cormier finishes the quarterfinals up 5-3 in his coaching matchup with Sonnen, sending three welterweights and two flyweights to the semifinals. The coaches spoke to the fighters individually to help determine the next round of matchups, which are as follows:

Flyweight

Team Cormier’s Alibi Idris vs. Team Sonnen’s Roybert Echeverria

Team Cormier’s Imanol Rodriguez vs. Team Sonnen’s Joseph Morales

Welterweight

Team Cormier’s Daniil Donchenko vs. Team Sonnen’s Matt Dixon

Team Cormier’s Jeff Creighton vs. Team Cormier’s Rodrigo Sezinando

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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

1. Eduardo Henrique (13-2), Brazil
2. Alibi Idiris (10-0), Kazakhstan
3. Imanol Rodriguez (5-0), Mexico
4. Tumelo Manyamala (6-1), South Africa

Welterweights

1. Rodrigo Sezinando (8-1), Brazil
2. Daniil Donchenko (11-2), Ukraine
3. Jeff Creighton (11-2-1), USA
4. Alex Sanchez (15-3), Mexico

Team Sonnen

Flyweights

1. Joseph Morales (12-2), USA
2. Furkatbek Yokubov (13-4), Uzbekistan
3. Roybert Echeverria (10-2), Venezuela
4. Arshiyan Memon (7-0), India

Welterweights

1. Diego Bianchini (9-1), Brazil
2. Matt Dixon (11-1), USA
3. Richard Martins (9-1), Brazil
4. Andreeas Binder (10-1, 1 NC), Ireland

Here are the semifinal matchups:

Flyweight

Alibi Idris vs. Roybert Echeverria

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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