The beef between Nate Diaz and Daniel Cormier turned up a notch after the DC and Chael Sonnen were announced as the coaches for The Ultimate Fighter season 33. Their dispute can be dated back to 2021 when the Stockton resident decided to take a jibe at DC’s size and boxing after Ryan Clark and DC created lists of top MMA boxers of all time back in November 2021. However, Diaz decided to drop some heat on Cormier and asked him to “respect the OG” and called him a “fat motherf—.” Needless to say, DC lashed back, but even though it’s been years since the incident, Diaz fired shots at Cormier by picking sides for TUF 33.

On 14 February 2025, Diaz took to his IG Story and shared a picture that read “20 YEARS OF THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER TEAM CORMIER VS TEAM SONNEN.” While season 33 is currently filming and is set to premiere on May 27 on ESPN2, ESPN+, and UFC Fight Pass, the Stockton native has already chosen his side. And it’s definitely not Team Cormier. In the caption to his IG Story, the former UFC lightweight contender wrote, “Team Sonnen F— the other team. Let’s gooooo [Chael Sonnen].”

Of course, back when Diaz attacked DC, the former heavyweight champion lashed back. Taking to his YT channel, Cormier declared that he wasn’t really excited about the rumors of Diaz returning to headline UFC 306. No doubt, that comeback never really materialized. DC had said, “While the name value is exciting, Nate Diaz the fighter isn’t that guy anymore. He’ll get mad at me, and he might say something to me when I see him. I don’t know, I don’t really care. But we have to tell the truth. This isn’t the guy that beat Conor the first time. Nate has had moments. Against Leon Edwards, he had a moment. But outside of that, he got beat on the whole time.”

The online feud between Nate Diaz and Daniel Cormier was much more than that. Diaz back in 2024, made a meme out of DC crying during his last post-fight interview and declared, “This b— is not a fighter.” Well, it seems like Diaz is proving himself true. Not that Cormier wasn’t a great fighter during his heyday. But coming to TUF 33, where the coaches are supposed to conclude the season with a fight, DC and Daniel Cormier decided to make others fight for them. 

Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen won’t fight at TUF 33

On TUF 33 media day, DC revealed, “We aren’t fighting. I told Dana this yesterday, I don’t wanna fight anybody because he was making fun of us. He goes, ‘Did the GFL call you guys?’ I was like, ‘They didn’t even call me because they know I don’t wanna fight and Chael probably turned him down.’ So like, we’re good. I go, ‘I just have no desire to fight anyone.'”

It has been quite some time since Cormier and Sonnen retired and became analysts for the sport. Needless to say, it’s too late in the day for them to fight against each other. So, ‘The Bad Guy’ and DC came up with an idea. Cormier had Michael Chiesa on his coaching staff, while ‘The American Gangster’ had Colby Covington. The UFC color commentator suggested that ‘Chaos’ and Chiesa should go up against each other to conclude TUF 33. He said, “Why don’t they just fight and Chael and I coach them? Obviously that’s about as close as we would both get to going back into the Octagon. So, why don’t those dudes just fight each other?”

No doubt, the fight between the former interim welterweight champion and Chiesa would be nothing short of exciting. But had Sonnen and Cormier fought instead, things might have been much more thrilling, don’t you agree? Nevertheless, we got to wait two more months to witness the action at TUF. 

Are you excited about The Ultimate Fighter 33? Do you wish to see Sonnen vs. Cormier to conclude the season? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.