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By Andy Cotterill (andy@mm-eh.ca) May 04, 2011

Mark Hominick went into last Saturday’s fight against Jose Aldo at UFC 129 fully expecting to become the new UFC featherweight champion, but unfortunately for him that didn’t happen.  Instead, the 30-year-old from London Ontario emerged on the losing side of a unanimous 5-round decision after a see saw battle that saw him and Aldo trade blow for blow for 25 minutes and win Fight of the Night honours in front of 55,000 fans at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

“I’ve got a lot of feedback for the fight and it’s too bad I didn’t come back with the belt, but I think that everyone was happy with the fight and the performance that I put on.” Hominick told MM-eh on Monday.

Fans everywhere marveled when Hominick sprouted a massive hematoma on his forehead that grew as they were watching, caused by an Aldo elbow to his head in the fourth round.

Many thought that the injury would cause the fight to be stopped, but after a thorough examination from the cageside physician Hominick was cleared to continue, something that he was thankful for.

“They’re professional and that’s their job to make sure the fighter is healthy and safe and I was, and John McCarthy knows me not just as a fighter but  he knows me on a personal level too so he knows that mentally there’s no quit in me as well, and as long as I passed all the tests that the Doctor was throwing at me in the cage they knew I was prepared to continue on.”

While Hominick was glad that he was allowed to go on, Aldo was probably not, as in the fifth Hominick turned up the pressure, getting top position on a clearly waning Aldo and raining down strike after strike for several minutes.

Hominick says that he knew that at that point Aldo didn’t have much battle left in him, but he still felt great and would have loved if the fight could have kept going.

“I think he was definitely fading, and the body attacks throughout the fight were a part of that as well, and at the end just the onslaught — there was no slowing down in me.  Once I get momentum going it’s hard to slow me down.  For sure I’m a conditioned fighter — that’s what I’m known for.”

In retrospect Hominick thinks that he could have done a few things differently.

“There’s definitely things I would have changed in the fight, but I fought until the end and if there was a sixth round I think I’d be wearing the world title belt.”

Hominick revealed that he wishes that he had thrown more combinations and maybe attacked a little more on the ground.

“I think if I would have attacked from the bottom with triangles, sweeps and armbars I would have caught him.  I almost finished him in the first with the armbar.  I think I just discredited my own ground skills.  Very close.  I think looking back I should have tried to finish it.”

But Hominick said that UFC president Dana White and matchmaker Joe Silva were thrilled with his performance, and told him that they want him back as soon as he’s healthy — two more wins and he’ll get another crack at the title.

“They were definitely pleased at the performance and I proved a lot of people wrong — I wasn’t supposed to get out of the first round with Jose and I almost finished him in the fifth.”

Hominick’s trainer Shawn Tompkins commented to MM-eh via text message.

“He’s ready for a rematch and so am I…tomorrow if possible.  Everybody in between — you are our target, we will finish you quick.”

For now, Hominick is back home getting some rest and spending time with his wife, who is due to have the couple’s first child, a daughter, any day now.

Of course the question that everyone wants to know is what happened with the hematoma?

“It looked a lot worse than it was and once I got some ice on it after the fight it went right down.”  He added, “I definitely look a lot worse than I am, just a little colour and a little swelling — I’m all right.”

His bank account is all right also.  Both he and Aldo received a $129,000 USD bonus for their Fight of the Night performance in addition to their fight purses, and Hominick is thrilled.

“It’s great for our future,” he laughed, “it was a nice little bonus at the end of the night.”

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