Along with his new role as the commentator and analyst for Hulk Hogan’s Real American Freestyle, Chael Sonnen is back coaching ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ for a third time.
Whereas he’s gone up against rivals in Jon Jones and Wanderlei Silva in the past, the latest season of ‘TUF’ sees him clash with his friend and co-host, Daniel Cormier.
Fans got a glimpse into the dynamic for this season with the debut episode where Sonnen’s team, which features Colby Covington working as a coach, got to work.
They recorded their first win after Joseph Morales secured the upset win over team Cormier’s Eduardo Henrique to get off to a strong start.
However, it was the pre-fight antics of his fellow coach that seemingly got the biggest reaction from Sonnen in this first installment.
Chael Sonnen says that he didn’t expect Daniel Cormier’s competitive approach to ‘The Ultimate Fighter’
In an exclusive interview with Bloody Elbow, Chael Sonnen spoke about whether he saw a different side to Daniel Cormier during their time on ‘The Ultimate Fighter‘.
“Yes, and I must tell you, I respected it. I just wasn’t ready for it. I didn’t know that it existed when we got to those events, whether it was the way some of the stuff that they showed on camera, some of the stuff that didn’t make it past the edit, I was not ready for Daniel to behave like that.”
The two former competitors regularly co-host ESPN’s ‘Good Guy/Bad Guy’ show where they’re often joking around with each other but ‘TUF’ has put them into a competitive environment.
This showed in the debut episode where Cormier and his team engaged in chants of “uh vai morrer” to support their Brazilian teammate, which translates to “you’re going to die”.
After an intense weigh-in, Sonnen praised Joseph Morales for not letting any of the pre-fight antics get to him before he went on to produce the submission win.
Sonnen said that while he respected his fellow coach taking this attitude towards the show, he wishes that he would have seen it coming so that he could’ve retaliated.
“You know, Daniel’s one of the boys. He’s still in the room. He’s still getting his workouts in. He’s got little Daniel he’s raising up. I mean, he’s going to be in in that rooms for another 20 years and generally speaking, when you’re one of the boys, you act like one of the boys.
“Then he got put in a coaching role, which is a more responsible realm. So whatever a sportsman I thought Daniel was, I thought he’d be more of a sportsman in this situation and that part did throw me off. I was not ready for him. I enjoyed it. I wish I would have known so that I could have fired back but if I’m being, it caught me off guard.”
What can fans expect from The Ultimate Fighter season 33 going forward?
The second episode is set to air on June 3 where team Cormier’s #2 welterweight pick, Danil Donchenko, will take on team Sonnen’s #3 pick, Richard Martins.
Brazil’s Martins has recorded 4 consecutive wins in LFA, producing 8 finishes in his 9 pro wins.
Ukraine’s Donchenko has built a pro record of 11-2 at just 23-years-old with both men doing their best work on the feet.
It seems like the tensions between the two teams and some of the competitors are only going to increase throughout the season if the preview of what is to come is anything to go by.
Alongside that, we have guest appearances from several ‘TUF’ alumni to look forward to with the likes of Robert Whittaker and Rashad Evans stopping by to offer some advice.