Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen will go from friends to rival coaches on the newest season of “The Ultimate Fighter.”
Cormier and Sonnen will coach “TUF 33,” which debuts May 27. Both UFC Hall of Famers have coached the competition twice before but will now go head to head.
“Chael, I fancy you a smart guy, but then you make a dumb decision to coach opposing me on ‘The Ultimate Fighter,'” Cormier told Sonnen on their ESPN show “Good Guy/Bad Guy.” “Hey, you tried to turn it down. I get it. You tried to turn it down multiple times. We had to chase you down. You choose to coach against me. Chael, how excited are you to coach The Ultimate Fighter, but how excited are you to coach it against me?”
Sonnen responded and said he is ready to bring his competitive heat to the show.
“I was actually quite flattered,” Sonnen said. “The Ultimate Fighter is the biggest vehicle in the history of our industry. To be selected as coaches behind the scenes, what people don’t see, it’s pretty competitive. You can hurt some feelings.
“People want an opportunity to go on and do that. There is a competition side and, yes, in fairness, it would boost my ego to defeat you. That’s true. I am going to do everything that I can to go out there and beat you.”
Every season, the opposing coaches compete in a challenge, which is usually sport-related. It is UFC CEO Dana White’s favorite part of the show, and Sonnen wonders if they’ll have to test their wrestling this season.
“We’re going to have to grapple, aren’t we? They’re going to do something,” Sonnen said. “I feel like that’s the swerve.”
