Unbeaten Idiris Alibi Handles Furkatbek Yokubov in ‘TUF 33’ Flyweight Quarterfinal

Idiris Alibi stepped up to the plate, called his shot and let his skills do the rest.

The undefeated Team Cormier rep overcame a point deduction for an eye poke and inched ever closer to securing an Ultimate Fighting Championship contract with a two-round unanimous decision over Furkatbek Yokubov in their flyweight quarterfinal on Episode 5 of “The Ultimate Fighter 33.”

“I respect Furkatbek as a brother, as a fighter,” Alibi said. “We fought like men and determined who’s the best. I’m doing my very best to win this show.”

Alibi, who operates out of the Erkin Kush camp in his native Kazakhstan, tested the waters in the standup exchanges before choosing the path of least resistance and electing to grapple. Yokubov’s frustration grew over time. The aforementioned foul complicated matters for Alibi in the second round, but he found another gear, executed a trip takedown, floated between full mount and the back, threatened with an arm-triangle choke and made sure to stay busy with his ground-and-pound. Yokubov briefly scrambled to his feet late in the bout, only to be taken down and controlled once more. A sense of resignation slowly enveloped him. Alibi was undeniably impressive.

“He’s the hardest working kid I’ve ever coached on ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’” coach Daniel Cormier said. “I’ve done it twice. I’ve never seen anybody work harder than Alibi.”

Cormier’s ringing endorsement did not end there.

“Alibi is an amazing athlete,” he said. “This guy’s a champion. This guy is going to be very hard to beat.”

The setback eliminates Yokubov from the competition for now. It was a difficult pill for the Belarusian Fighting Championship titleholder to swallow.

“I feel a lot of emotion,” he said. “This one, it’s [much] harder because we [waited] for this moment [for a] long time and I [had to] leave my family, I [had to] leave my job. No excuse. I lost the fight.

With his team up 4-1 and still in control of the board, Cormier called upon welterweight Alejandro Sanchez to face Team Sonnen’s Matt Dixon in the season’s next bout. Dixon owns an 11-1 record, having suffered his only pro defeat to Orion Cosce on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2020. Sanchez, meanwhile, carries a 15-3 record and trains with the respected Entram Gym outfit in Mexico.

“We got two strikers going head-to-head,” UFC CEO Dana White said. “This should be a good one.”