The Ultimate Fighter
Episode 4 Recap | The Ultimate Fighter Season 33
The Action Shifts Back To Welterweight, But A Tough Weight Cut Threatens The Fight
PREVIOUSLY ON THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER
Ukrainian striker Daniil Donchenko earned the first semifinal berth in the welterweight division before fellow Team Cormier representative Imanol Rodriguez posted a dominant win over Arshiyan Memon to advance in the flyweight tournament.
TUF EPISODE RECAPS: Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3
Now it’s time for the second welterweight quarterfinal bout, as Jeff Creighton of Team Cormier squares off with Andreeas Binder of Team Sonnen, only for a problem in his weight cut to put Binder’s future in the competition in jeopardy.
TRAINING SESSION | TEAM SONNEN
Sonnen welcomes former TUF winner, welterweight champion, and UFC Hall of Fame inductee Matt Serra into the training session to speak to and work with his team. Dana White recaps Serra’s journey through Season 4 of The Ultimate Fighter and his upset win over Georges St-Pierre, which Serra calls a “surreal moment.”
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The Long Island native runs the training session, putting the team through technical work on the ground and various drills, sharing his expertise on the mats. You can see how good of a coach he is when leading the team through drills, with welterweight Matt Dixon noting as much in an interstitial.
TUF HOUSE
Creighton talks about his wife while getting his hair cut at the house, calling her and their future together his motivation for fighting, and noting that his whole crew travels to watch him compete whenever he steps into the cage.
His home video rolls, opening with him and his wife walking along the water in Valley Center, CA, where they live in their trailer on her grandparents’ property. His highlights and training footage runs opposite shots of him sitting with his wife in the peace and quiet as she calls him “the complete opposite” of what you see from him in the cage.
Creighton trains at The Arena in San Diego under Vince Salvador. He calls his style “aggressive” and “in your face,” noting his record is 11-2-1, which includes winning and defending the A1 Combat welterweight title.
ANDREEAS BINDER FIGHT PREP
Sonnen sits and talks with Binder about how a wrestler will break if his opponent gets up frequently or with ease. He notes in an interstitial that Creighton is the best wrestler in the competition and Binder is likely the fighter with the least wrestling abilities of the group, basing that off his being from Ireland.
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But he believes that Binder’s toughness is an under the radar tool that can help him in this fight.
Highlights of Binder’s recent outings run as he details that he’s won five straight to move to 10-2 overall in an interstitial. He explains that he’s a judo black belt — and was the youngest black belt in Ireland — while highlights of his finish of Melvin van Suijdam play.
“I’m a finisher; I’m not a boring fighter. Jesus loves knockouts,” Binder says just prior to the finish of the fight being shown.
Back in his training session, Binder works with Colby Covington, working on takedowns while talking about how he’s focused on what he brings to the table and the fight-changing power he possesses.
Sonnen talks about how Binder has told him that he knows he doesn’t look great in practice, noting that he doesn’t have energy because he is solely focused on making weight. Sonnen says he expects him to perform well.
JEFF CREIGHTON FIGHT PREP
Cormier leads his team through training and speaks about the fight. He mentions that Binder told everyone he was going to win the competition, noting that he’s impressed with what he’s seen out of Creighton through their training sessions.
Creighton works with coach John Wood, admitting that he wants to make it a dirty, grimy fight contested mostly in close quarters. Cormier drills the finer details of some of the takedowns they’re working on, as Creighton says he’ll “do what I have to do” in order to get this win.
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Cormier calls for pressure, combinations, and opportunistic takedowns, calling Creighton a grinder. “He may not wow you, but he’s a guy that is gonna impress you with his ability to be in every single fight, every single time,” he adds.
TUF HOUSE
Binder talks to Dixon about his life back home in Ireland with his fiancée. He proposed in 2018 and says he’s waiting until he pursues this career full-time before they get married, adding that he “cannot wait for kids.”
His home video opens in Dublin with his brother, his mother, and their dog. He grew up in Galway as an overweight Romanian kid. His father suggested he get involved with martial arts to deal with the bullying he was experiencing, which led him to judo and a move to Dublin, where he’s lived for four years.
He’s shown training at SBG Charlestown under Owen Roddy, and calls this opportunity “life-changing,” while suggesting that “no one wants this as hard as me.”
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Binder is shown getting into his weight cut 18 hours before weigh-ins, calling it the hardest thing you can put your body through. He’s currently 14 pounds over, and goes through the usual circuit of skipping rope, sauna, hot tub, and “burrito wrap,” repeating those four steps as he looks to get down to 171 pounds for his fight with Creighton.
He’s eight pounds away with 14 hours to go, and says, “Everything is going to plan.”
TUF HOUSE
It’s now morning and Binder is wrapped in towels on the living room, with Dixon helping him along. The American welterweight acknowledges that Binder has told him he’s had issues cutting weight in the past, which makes him nervous.
Binder gets into the portable sauna. He’s no longer sweating and he’s got three hours left to make weight. He’s down to 176 pounds — five pounds out — and as he tried to walk down the stairs, he’s faint. The other members of Team Sonnen console him and remind him that his health has to come first.
Sonnen arrives at the house with 90 minutes until the weight cut. Binder tells him that he can’t make weight. Sonnen calls it a “potential disaster,” noting that White hasn’t been particularly generous to competitors that missed weight on the show in the past.
“We made a mistake, and now we need grace,” offers the bespectacled “Bad Guy,” who jumps on the phone with Cormier, informing him that Binder is stuck at 176 pounds and won’t be able to lose any more weight. Cormier tells him “five’s a big number” and that he’s not keen on having Creighton fight someone that is that far above the divisional weight limit.
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Sonnen suggests a “one thousand dollars per pound” payment that will be delivered at weigh-ins, and Cormier calls Creighton, who is cutting weight with Michael Chiesa, adding Sonnen to the call to explain the situation. Sonnen explains that Binder will not make weight and will be at 176 pounds, offering him the “thousand dollars a pound” payout, which means Creighton would net $5,000 if he were to face Binder at that weight.
Creighton pushes back, asking for $2,500 per pound, noting that it’s the biggest opportunity of his life and that Binder should make weight.
Sonnen does the quick math, noting that it’s $12,500, and tells Creighton he’ll have it in a white envelope at weigh-ins before hanging up.
Creighton, Chiesa, and John Wood are uproarious at the UFC PI, while Sonnen tells Binder to hold his weight before heading to the bank to collect the payout.
“In for a penny, in for a pound; you either got a team or you don’t” Sonnen says in an interstitial, suggesting that these are the things you have to do if you really are a team. He wants to show them that he’s all-in with them, calling Binder’s weight situation his mistake, his failure.
Binder promises to pay “Uncle Chael” back with a beautiful knockout, while Cormier is a little anxious about Creighton having accepted the fight with an opponent that is that far overweight. “DC” says he would have forfeited, but notes that Creighton wants to fight.
WELTERWEIGHT WEIGH-INS
White chimes in on the situation, saying Binder “blew it” and noting that in the past, he’s sent guys home from the show for missing weight. But with Sonnen having struck up a deal and stood up for his athlete — which is a first in TUF history — he’s letting Binder stick around and compete.
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Creighton is up first, and comes in at an easy 170 pounds; championship weight.
White’s interstitial continues in a voice over, with the UFC CEO noting there is an allowance between athletes when competing at welterweight, adding that with Sonnen paying by the pound, Binder needs to be under 176 pounds or else the deal could be voided.
Binder weighs 175.5 pounds, Sonnen pays Creighton, and White raves about the Team Cormeir man not taking the forfeit, while earning a little extra cash on the side, as well.
The welterweights face off and Cormier tells Creighton to “look into the eyes of a desperate man,” one that came to them with an envelope full of money in order to make this fight happen. He tells Binder “I want it more than you,” and tells him that he “gave up on (himself) earlier.”
FIGHT DAY
The combatants arrive at the UFC APEX, load into their respective locker rooms, and get ready to head into the fray.
Creighton says he derives confidence from Binder missing weight, while the Dubliner wants to make his American counterpart eat his words from the previous day, promising a knockout.
Jeff Creighton vs Andreeas Binder
Easily the most competitive fight so far this season, the welterweights ran fairly level for the first six minutes before Creighton closed the distance, put Binder on the canvas, and dominated from there.
The first round was close, with Binder landing good shots and dumping Creighton to the canvas before the Team Cormier man got to his feet and split his counterpart open with a slicing elbow just before the horn. In the second, Creighton closed the distance and forced Binder to the ground, working to his back, where he continued to batter him while hunting for the finish, only for the blood leaking from Binder’s head to make it hard to secure the choke.
Both teams believe there will be a third round, but there is a decision.
The coaches recap the fight, talking through the competitive first round. Cormier praises Creighton for dominating Binder in the second, with White noting the one-sided second for Creighton and the amount of blood coating the athletes and the canvas. Sonnen acknowledges that their corner team told Binder to ultimately concede the round, certain they would see a third, with the fight hanging in the balance, but that isn’t how things played out.
Official Result: Jeff Creighton defeats Andreeas Binder by decision
Sonnen admits they steered Binder wrong, recognizing that Creighton got a 10-8 round in the second to earn the win.
He celebrates in the locker room with the rest of Team Cormier, while saying that he got the fight he was looking for in an interstitial.
Sonnen is annoyed with the judging, praising Binder for his efforts while the vanquished fighter says he got the kind of fight that he wanted as well before he’s shown getting stitched up.
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENT | FLYWEIGHT
The flyweights are up again, with Cormier making the selection, noting that his team is up 3-1 so far.
Cormier picks Alibi Idiris from his side to face Team Sonnen’s Furkatbek Yokubov. The two shake hands and face off, with Cormeir calling it arguably the most evenly matched pairings available.
ON THE NEXT EPISODE OF THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER…
Brandon Moreno drops in to work with Team Cormier, and then Cormier has his old ESPN podcast partner Ryan Clark give the team a pre-fight speech in the locker room before the flyweights head into the Octagon to determine who will advance to the semifinals.