Chael Sonnen and Daniel Cormier will not be fighting each other at the end of season 33 of The Ultimate Fighter, but both coaches would like to see a bout between a member of their respective coaching staffs.
“Here’s the deal: We aren’t fighting,” Cormier said during the TUF 33 media day. “I told this to Dana [on Tuesday], I don’t want to fight anybody, because he was making fun of us. He goes, ‘Did GFL call you guys?’ I was like, ‘They didn’t even call me because they know I don’t want to fight,’ and Chael probably turned them down. We’re good. I just have no desire to fight anyone.
“Chael and I did come up with an idea thought, and I don’t know if you guys would be into this… so Chael and I are talking, and we’re going, I have Michael Chiesa on my coaching staff, Chael has Colby Covington on his coaching staff. Why don’t they just fight and Chael and I coach them? That’s about as close as we would both get to getting back into the octagon.”
Sonnen and Cormier will coach a crop of flyweight and welterweight competitors. At the end of the season, the two finalists from each division will face off with the winners receiving UFC contracts.
If the UFC does bring back an official TUF Finale event, the UFC Hall of Famers believe they can help set the stage for a main event between Covington and Chiesa — with the former looking to bounce back from back-to-back losses to Leon Edwards and Joaquin Buckley, while the former is on a two-fight win streak.
“To back Daniel up, I can’t believe nobody’s suggesting that,” Sonnen said. “That’s the obvious fight. I don’t think Colby and Chiesa are going to get through this process without finding one another.”
“Imagine how much we can instigate them,” Cormier said. “It would be awesome. We could instigate those for four weeks.”
