After weeks of trash-talk, Team Sonnen’s Diego Bianchini looks to make it an even contest as he takes on Team Cormier’s Rodrigo Sezinando in the final quarterfinal bout. Both Bianchini and Sezinando have gone back-and-forth with each other as the most anticipated fight in the season finally comes to a conclusion.
In order to prepare for the final matchup before the semifinals, Team Cormier’s assistant coach and TUF 15 winner, Michael Chiesa, brought in a guest coach: former interim UFC Featherweight Champion, Yair Rodriguez. Being the first winner of TUF: Latin America, Rodriguez won the tournament after defeating Leonardo Morales in the finals at UFC 180.
During training, Team Cormier’s Jeff Creighton highlighted Rodriguez’s striking during the team training session, stating, “There’s so many layers to his game. If you watch him from a fan perspective or just a fighter watching him,” Creighton said. El Pantera has made a name for himself with his dynamic striking and versatile kicks, with KO/TKO finishes over Andre Fili, BJ Penn and Chan Sung Jung. Rodriguez focused his time with the team on close-range striking, specifically elbows and clinch work.
For Team Sonnen’s Bianchini, The Brazilian Bad Boy talks about his time at the Fighting Nerds Gym and as UFC Middleweight, Caio Borralho, notes how talented the São Paulo native is. “He’s always been a very talented guy, good to train with,” Borralho said.
“I think you will see the best Bianchini in The Ultimate Fighter and he’s ready for this challenge. He’s pushing himself and he’s committed”.
For Sezinando, the fighter from Rio De Janeiro talks about being unable to see his family, specifically his mom, for roughly a year and a half and gets his inspiration to fight from her. “She always is the person that has to be a dad, has to be a mom, and we don’t have enough money,” Sezinando said.
Sezinando moved to Canada in 2022 for a better life as he found a home at Lions MMA Gym in Vancouver, British Columbia.
At the weigh-ins, Jeff Creighton discusses how Rodrigo’s key to winning the fight is “controlling his emotions”, as both teams know how crucial this fight could influence the rest of the competition.
All of that went out the window as Bianchini wasted little time going after Sezinando, but was met with his own adversity as he was taken down thirty seconds in. After getting back to his feet, The Brazilian Bad Boy went back to throwing multiple kicks to his opponent.
As both fighters were looking to find their openings, Sezinando would get hit with a groin strike roughly two minutes into the first that led to a pause in the action. After the fight resumed, Team Cormier’s Sezinando found his moments after landing a right punch followed up by a left hook that wobbled The Brazilian Bad Boy.
While visibly rattled, Bianchini was able to recover as both fighters were visibly exhausted towards the end of the first. However, Sezinando kept control of the first round despite D.C. repeatedly telling his fighter to “stop loading up” on his punches.
While the tensions were still high in the UFC Apex, round two began in similar fashion as Sezinando took his opponent down less than a minute in. Despite numerous attempts from bottom guard by Bianchini, he was unable to garner any significant offense as he was controlled throughout nearly the whole second round.
Team Cormier’s Sezinando would win by unanimous decision, giving them a 5-3 lead over Team Sonnen to go into the semifinals.
Despite the bad blood, Sezinando and Bianchini put the feud behind them as they both showed their respect to each other after the fight. “I just wish the best things for him,” Bianchini said.
With the 8 semifinalists now official, both coach Cormier and Sonnen are tasked with picking the fights going forward. The matches go as follows:
Flyweight Bouts:
- Alibi Idiris (Team Cormier) vs. Roybert Echeverria (Team Sonnen)
- Joseph Morales (Team Sonnen) vs. Imanol Rodriguez (Team Cormier)
Welterweight Bouts:
- Matt Dixon (Team Sonnen) vs. Daniil Donchenko (Team Cormier)
- Jeff Creighton (Team Cormier) vs. Rodrigo Sezinando (Team Cormier)
The fight between Creighton and Sezinando marks the only semifinal bout between two fighters from the same team. While Cormier acknowledged Sezinando’s skills, he believes Creighton has shown the most overall improvement.