Chael Sonnen says Colby Covington will be part of his 'TUF 33' coaching staff

Chael Sonnen will have a UFC star in his coaching staff for Season 33 of “The Ultimate Fighter.”

Sonnen coaches “TUF 33” opposite side his friend and podcast co-host, Daniel Cormier. The season debuts May 27 and will feature men’s flyweights and welterweights.

Sonnen has coached “TUF” on two occasions, but for his third time, he’s bringing along former interim UFC welterweight champion Colby Covington. He revealed his entire coaching staff.

“The head coach will be Clayton Hires,” Sonnen told MMA Junkie. “Clayton Hires is my coach. He’s my mentor. He is not my assistant ever. He will be the boss. I will have on the jersey: ‘Clayton’s Team.’ It will consist of me, it will consist of ‘Cowboy’ Steve. He’s going to do what generally Mike Dolce would do in terms of helping these guys with their weight, their nutrition, their strength and conditioning.

“I would never do an ‘Ultimate Fighter’ without bringing the greatest grappler, Vinny Magalhaes – the last man to beat Gordon Ryan I might add, and he beat Gordon easily. That’s just the truth. It was either 7-0 or 7-1. It was not even close. Vinny never got credit for that. Last human being to defeat Gordon Ryan. And Colby Covington – Colby is going to to come in.”

Sonnen opened up on Covington’s impact in the training room.

“Colby is such a wonderful mentor to people,” Sonnen sa8d. “This is what people don’t know about him. He does all of this on the side. He gives back, he goes to camps, he goes to college wrestling rooms, he goes to the training sessions, whatever it might be. He has mentored and coached many people. But Colby doesn’t want people knowing that he’s a nice guy, so I’m not going to ruin his gimmick. But he’s going to do a fantastic job.”