The flyweight competitors have thrilled throughout the early stages of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Cormier vs. Team Sonnen, and the 125-pound tournament continued on the fifth episode of the season.
Fittingly, the special guest coach this week was former UFC flyweight champion Brandon Moreno, who began his UFC journey with an appearance on TUF: Tournament of Champions back in 2016.
Moreno didn’t win any fights during his time on TUF. He was eliminated in the opening round by rival and current flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja but eventually worked his way to becoming a UFC champion. Moreno is the only TUF alumnus to date to become a UFC champ without winning a fight on the show.
It was determined last week that Team Cormier’s Alibi Idiris would take on Team Sonnen’s Furkatbek Yokubov in the next quarterfinal matchup.
Idiris is 10-0 from Kazakhstan, while Yokubov was an amateur kickboxing champion from Uzbekistan who boasts a 15-4 pro MMA record.
Spoilers below for TUF 33, Episode 5:
Daniel Cormier described Idiris as the hardest-working fighter he has helped prepare during his time coaching on TUF — this season is Cormier’s second stint as a TUF head coach — and Idiris pressured Yokubov early in the opening round, switching stances, throwing knees to the body and initiating clinches.
Yokubov used his striking background to work Idiris’s body with hard kicks and punches, but Idiris secured a takedown late in Round 1 and finished the round landing ground-and-pound strikes from mount and back mount positions.
Round 2 began with an early eye poke from Idiris that was significant enough for the referee to deduct one point from the Team Cormier fighter.
When the action resumed, Idiris was able to land another takedown. He quickly locked up an arm-triangle choke but Yokubov did not tap out.
Idiris was relentless with his pressure as Yokubov continued fighting back to his feet before being dragged back down to the canvas.
All fights on TUF are scheduled for two five-minute rounds, where if after the second round it’s a draw, they go to a third “sudden victory” round.
Even though Idiris was deducted a point for the eye poke, he won both rounds and a third was not required.
Idiris joins Team Sonnen’s Joseph Morales and Team Cormier’s Imanol Rodriguez in the flyweight semifinals.
The next welterweight matchup was decided as Team Cormier’s Alex Sanchez vs. Team Sonnen’s Matt Dixon.
Sanchez is a 15-3 pro from Mexico, while Dixon is an 11-1 American whose lone loss was during a 2020 appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series.
Source link
