The final spot in the flyweight semifinals was on the line on episode seven of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Cormier vs. Team Sonnen.
Team Cormier’s Alibi Idiris and Imanol Rodriguez plus Team Sonnen’s Joseph Morales had already booked their spots and the final 125-pound quarterfinal matchup featured Team Sonnen’s Roybert Echeverria and Team Cormier’s Tumelo Manyamala.
Former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker was a special guest who stopped by to give Team Sonnen fighters some pointers before Echeverria and Manyamala stepped into the cage.
Spoilers below for TUF 33, Episode 6:
Venezuela’s Echeverria, who lives in Florida and trains out of The Goat Shed gym out of Miami, has a 10-2 pro record including one loss in 2022 on Dana White’s Contender Series. Manyamala is 6-1 from South Africa with all six of his wins coming via stoppage.
Echeverria, 29, told Sonnen before the fight his game plan was to be patient and defensively responsible early before pursuing the takedown since Manyamala was known primarily as a striker, while Echeverria is more experienced and regarded as well rounded.
Manyamala, 26, took advantage of his slight height, reach and speed advantage early in the fight to get the better of the striking exchanges. Manyamala was able to connect with his straight right hand and in the final minute of the opening round he briefly dropped Echeverria after catching him flush.
After being outstruck in the opening round, Echeverria began using his wrestling in Round 2. Following several unsuccessful takedown attempts he finally successfully got Manyamala to the ground midway through the second.
From there Echeverria moved quickly to advance position and sunk in a choke that resulted in Manyamala tapping out with little resistance.
“The second round starts and Tumelo just refuses to go forward,” a frustrated Daniel Cormier said of his fighter after the fight. “This is the part of coaching that drives me crazy.”
On last week’s episode of TUF 33, Cormier let his team have it in a passionate speech after Alex Sanchez lost a fight during which he backpedalled for the duration of the bout before getting finished.
“I don’t know why he shut down like that,” Cormier said of Manyamala. “It was very odd. For as well as he listened in Round 1 he seemed to shut off in Round 2. … I’m pissed after this one because he stopped listening and especially because he was listening (in Round 1) and it was all working so well, and it was such a winnable fight. And it’s not mad because I lost something, it’s mad because I know when he looks at this he’s gonna be like ‘why did I do that?’ and it’s hard to live with regret.”
With flyweight quarterfinals in the books, it’s now time for the final welterweight quarterfinal matchup.
Team Sonnen’s Diego Bianchini will take on Team Cormier’s Rodrigo Sezinando in a 170-pound grudge match.
Bianchini is 9-1 from Brazil and a member of the famed Fighting Nerds team, while Sezinando is an 8-1 Brazilian who has been living and training in Canada in recent years.
The pair were the top two welterweight picks of the team selections in episode one and have been butting heads all season.
“This is one we’ve all been waiting for,” UFC president Dana White said of the anticipated matchup. “These two did not like each other right off the bat, tension has been building the entire season and they finally get to settle it in the Octagon.”
