The flyweight tournament final for The Ultimate Fighter: Team Cormier vs. Team Sonnen opened the UFC 319 preliminary card Saturday in Chicago with Joseph Morales finishing Alibi Idiris in dominant fashion to earn a UFC contract.
Although both fighters are 30 years old, Morales had more pro experience and had faced tougher competition in the past and it certainly showed during the 125-pound tournament finale.
After controlling the opening round both on the feet and on the ground, Morales began to work his submission game and locked in a triangle choke that forced a tap from Idiris midway through Round 2.
Morales wore blue trunks as a representative of Chael Sonnen’s team, while Idiris was in yellow to represent the team that was coached by Daniel Cormier.
Sonnen was in the corner of Morales — as was former UFC star Urijah Faber who has been a longtime Team Alpha Male teammate and coach of Morales — while Cormier was on the cageside commentary team during the broadcast.
Morales had earned his spot in the final with wins over Eduardo Chapolin and Imanol Rodriguez. The American was the only UFC veteran on season 33 of TUF after being released in 2018 following a 1-2 stint in the organization that included a loss to eventual two-time flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo.
Meanwhile, Idiris beat Roybert Echeverria and Furkatbek Yokubov on the show to advance to the final. The native of Kazakhstan had never previously been defeated in mixed martial arts.
The TUF 33 welterweight tournament finale between Rodrigo Sezinando and Daniil Donchenko was also scheduled to take place at UFC 319, however an undisclosed injury to Sezinando resulted in the matchup being rebooked for a later date.
