Daniel Cormier is dropping his endurance.
For the second week in a row on The Final Fighter 33, Cormier needed to watch one among his fighters fall flat, a lot to the previous two-division champion’s dismay. This week, it was Group Chael Sonnen’s Roybert Echeverria (Venezuela) who stood tall as he submitted Group Cormier’s Tumelo Manyamala (South Africa) in Spherical 2.
Manyamala acquired off to a quick begin, utilizing his velocity and slick placing to snipe away at Echeverria early. After controlling a lot of the spherical with constant counter-punching, Manyamala cracked Echeverria with proper hand that dropped Echeverria to his knees. Echeverria recovered, however went into the second spherical down on the scorecards.
In between frames, Sonnen and his staff instructed Echeverria he wanted to be extra aggressive closing the space to work for takedowns. Echeverria caught with the sport plan, using an identical mixture a number of occasions every time ending with a takedown try. Manyamala stuffed Echeverria twice, however succumbed to a 3rd try and the battle went downhill for him from there.
Echeverria dragged Manyamala to the mat and stored him there earlier than working for a rear-naked choke that pressured a faucet.
Afterwards, Cormier couldn’t disguise his disappointment in Manyamala failing to return ahead in Spherical 2. Within the earlier week’s episode, he additionally blasted Alex Sanchez for his timidity in a loss.
“It’s irritating, since you ought to have received that battle,” Cormier instructed Manyamala. “Bear in mind what you’re feeling proper now and ensure it doesn’t occur to you once more. Don’t waste this chance, you’re going to be taught so much now.”
Echeverria’s efficiency may need been boosted by an look from TUF: The Smashes winner and former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker, who served as Sonnen’s visitor coach this week.
Cormier’s lead over Sonnen within the collection is now all the way down to 4-3. Every coach now has two flyweights within the semifinals, with Cormier sending Alibi Idiris and Imanol Rodriguez, and Sonnen sending Echeverria and Joseph Morales.
Sonnen can tie it up subsequent week when Diego Bianchini fights Cormier’s Rodrigo Sezinando in a battle of every staff’s No. 1 welterweight picks.
The Final Fighter 33 airs dwell each Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
In contrast to most editions of TUF, coaches Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen won’t battle on the conclusion of the season as each are lengthy retired.
The finalists of the TUF 33 welterweight and flyweight tournaments will compete for a six-figure UFC contract within the present’s dwell finale fights. A date for these bouts is but to be introduced.
Listed below are the TUF 33 rosters divided by staff:
Group 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
Group 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), Eire
Listed below are the quarterfinal outcomes to date:
Joseph Morales def. Eduardo Henrique through first-round submission (rear-naked choke)
Daniil Donchenko def. Richard Martins through determination
Imanol Rodriguez def. Arshiyan Memon through first-round TKO (strikes)
Jeff Creighton def. Andreeas Binder through determination
Alibi Idiris def. Furkatbek Yokubov through determination
Matt Dixon def. Alex Sanchez through first-round TKO (strikes)
Roybert Echeverria def. Tumelo Manyamala through second-round submission (rear-naked choke)
Advancing to semifinals: Morales, Donchenko, Rodriguez, Creighton, Idiris, Dixon, Echeverria
Eradicated: Henrique, Martins, Memon, Binder, Yokubov, Sanchez, Manyamala
