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UFC 145: Mark Hominick Back to "The Machine" and Film "Fight Spirit Pride"

Mark Hominick will be looking to return to the original ways of “The Machine” when he faces veteran Eddie Yagin at UFC 145 in Atlanta. “The Machine” nickname has been well earned over the years as Mark is well known and respected for his almost robot-like dedication to discipline, focus and constant training and improvement.

2011 tested him in many ways inside and outside the cage and understandably, we saw a different Hominick in the cage than we were used to. It is hard for anyone in the world to dictate a fight against UFC Featherweight champion Jose Aldo and Hominick battled as hard as he could even though he lost a decision.

We didn’t see the real “Machine” in his next fight either, a shockingly quick loss to Chan Sung Jung at UFC 140 in Toronto. His back against the wall, Hominick is looking to get back to what got him to this point in his career with a win against Yagin.

“Exactly, that’s what I’m focused on. You know the last one, there were so many things in my head in play that I wanted to prove so much and I fought out of character and I payed the price for fighting out of character. So this one, I’m just focused on getting a win,” Hominick said this week, while he trained at his gym, The Adrenaline Training Center.

“I’m not worried about where it puts me in the title hunt or anything like that. I’m just looking to go out there, I want to put on a great performance and a great win and that’s what I’m focused on.”

It’s clear that Hominick has a lot of respect for and knowledge about Eddie Yagin.

“He’s a veteran. He’s had almost fifteen years of fighting. I remember fighting in 2002 in Hawaii and he was one of the headline fights back then. He’s fought in basically every organization that’s around. He’s fought in the day when you know he’s 5’5 and fighting at 170 so, he’s just a scrapper. He comes to fight so it’s a great matchup for me and I’m looking forward to it.

Fight fans throughout Canada and the world are looking forward to seeing the return of “The Machine” on April 21st.

Please see the entire video interview attached as Mark talks about the new documentary film “Fight Spirit Pride” which follows his career between 2006 to the present, with an exclusive behind the scenes look at balancing his career in the UFC and being there for his ailing father.

He also talks about the valuable relationship that Adrenaline and Team Tompkins share with Team Curran in Chicago.

Dwight Wakabayashi is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA, MMA Editor at CKSN.ca and guest blogger for Sportsnet.ca

Catch him on Facebook and Twitter at wakafightermma.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Score Fighting Series 3: Weigh-in Results

The Score Fighting Series 3 is set to take place at the Hamilton Place Theatre in downtown Hamilton on Friday night, and all fighters were on hand this afternoon for the pre-fight weigh-ins. The show will headline top Canadian lightweight John Alessio …

The Score Fighting Series 3 is set to take place at the Hamilton Place Theatre in downtown Hamilton on Friday night, and all fighters were on hand this afternoon for the pre-fight weigh-ins.

The show will headline top Canadian lightweight John Alessio taking on Ryan Healy, and will also showcase a hometown star on the rise with Josh Hill taking on Eric Wilson.

Every fighter made weight except lightweight Jason Meisel, who came in more than 12 ounces over the 156lb allowance. Meisel will now surrender 20 percent of his fight purse to opponent Mike Sledzion.

Fans will be disappointed that the scheduled bout between monster welterweight Ryan Dickson and Brandon Johnson had to be removed from the card after Johnson failed to pass his pre-fight medicals.

Complete Weigh-in Results:

(155.0) Ryan Healy vs John Alessio (155.6)

(134.8) Eric Wilson vs Josh Hill (135.4)

(169.0) Forrest Petz vs Sergey Juskevic (168.8)

(155.6) Iraj Hadin vs Alex Ricci (155.8)

(155.4) Derek Boyle vs Shane Campbell (155.4)

(145.2) Cory Houston vs Lyndon Whitlock (145.4)

(156.0) Mike Sledzion vs Jason Meisel (missed weight)

(185.0) Erik Herbert vs Elias Theodorou (185.0)

(153.6) John Roche vs Adam Assenza (155.0)

(260.8) Craig Hudson vs John McPherson (250.4)

Keep it tuned in here to Bleacher Report MMA for fight night results and post-fight interviews

Dwight Wakabayashi is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA, MMA Editor at CKSN.ca and guest blogger for Sportsnet.ca

Catch him on Facebook and Twitter at wakafightermma.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

The Score Fighting Series Establishing Itself as the Best Show in Ontario

It has been one calendar year since mixed martial arts competitions were made legal in Ontario and one thing is becoming pretty clear. The Score Fighting Series has established itself as the hottest and most reliable local MMA show. The Sco…

The Score Fighting Series is again set to explode on the people of Hamilton and the GTA this Friday March 16th, and the card is stacked with prominent Canadian talent.

This will be the fifth show that The Score has put on in Ontario and they have some great momentum coming off a stellar night of fights on December 10th in Sarnia. In that show, hometown bantamweight wizard John Fraser gained a quick submission victory over Travis Reddinger and Canadian 170-pound multi-title holder Chris “The Menace” Clements paved his way to the UFC with a thrilling TKO over Rich Clementi.

The former UFC veteran Clementi was set to headline this weekend’s card in a juicy match up with B.C.’s “Ragin” Kajan Johnson but Johnson had to withdraw due to injury. That blip aside, The Score has delivered on a very highly anticipated return to Hamilton.

Top five Canadian lightweight veteran John Alessio will look to climb his way back to the UFC against Ryan Healy. Hometown up-and-comer Josh Hill will look to remain undefeated against Eric Wilson and the card is rounded out with established talent like Forrest Petz, Lyndon Whitlock, Shane Campbell and Ryan Dickson.

There have been some very good local shows held in the region in the past twelve months but most have been a one and done with nothing on the horizon to look to. Promotions such as The Maximum Fighting Championship, Professional Fighting Championship, MMA Live and Freedom Fight have all held single shows in the province with varying degrees of success. Elite fight cards have been tough to secure for the most part.

Bellator made it’s debut in Ontario in November and is building a solid presence with two more shows set for the market in the next few months. They have been equal to The Score in the talent that they have been able to showcase to the fans, and these two promotions are delivering the type of shows fans want to see.

The entire March 16th card now lines-up as follows:

155lbs – John Alessio (33-14) vs. Ryan Healy (19-9-1)
135lbs – Josh Hill (7-0) vs. Eric Wilson (5-1)
170lbs – Sergey Juskevic (11-6-2) vs. Forrest Petz (24-9)
145lbs – Jeff Harrison (5-4) vs. Will Romero (7-3)
155lbs – Alex Ricci (4-0) vs. Iraj Hadin (6-3)
155lbs – Shane Campbell (3-1) vs. Derek Boyle (7-5)
145lbs – Lyndon Whitlock (5-2) vs. Corey Houston (4-1)
170lbs – Ryan Dickson (2-0) vs. Brandon Johnson (2-1)
155lbs – Jason Meisel (2-0) vs. Mike Sledzion (3-2)
155lbs – Adam Assenza (0-1) vs. John Roche (0-0)
265lbs – John McPherson (1-1) vs. Craig Hudson (1-1)
185lbs – Elias Thedorou (2-0) vs. Erik Herbert (3-1)

Tickets for The Score Fighting Series event start at $30 and are on sale now at the Copps Coliseum box office and online at www.ticketmaster.ca. The entire event will be streamed live on thescore.com starting at 7:30pm.

Keep it tuned in here to Bleacher Report MMA for all fight week coverage including interviews, weigh-in video and fight night results

Dwight Wakabayashi is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA, MMA Editor at CKSN.ca and guest blogger for Sportsnet.ca

Catch him on Facebook and Twitter at wakafightermma.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Adrenaline’s Andrew Elliott Last Man Standing at the 32-Man Showdown

Home mat advantage turned out to be a key factor for Andrew Elliott at the 32-Man Showdown this weekend in London. The Adrenaline Training Center grappler and former Lakehead University wrestler defeated Bryan Fedynszyn in the finals to cap …

The event was staged inside the Agriplex at the Western Fairgrounds as part of the Sports and Recreation show. Elliott used a great combination of agility, strength and crafty skill to run his way to the finals where he and the bigger Fedynszyn fought a razor-thin five-minute match that needed a sudden death overtime to determine the winner.

In extra time, Elliott was able to secure a solid throw-takedown and hold position for the sudden death win. It was a well deserved victory for Elliott, who currently trains at Adrenaline Training Center under the tutelage of Rowan Cunningham and James Haourt. Ironically, Elliott defeated his much smaller teacher Haourt in the semi finals.

I spoke with Elliott immediately after the event.

“I come from a wrestling background, I wrestled in high school and at Lakehead University. Actually one of my old alumni teammates won the Gi portion of the competition as well.”

They are obviously doing something right at Lakehead University Wrestling.

“Since high school I have been training a bit of MMA as well at Supreme MMA in Sarnia with John Fraser and now I’m back down here at Adrenaline in London.”

It is clear with his performance on Sunday that Elliott trains well as John “The Haggis Basher” Fraser is one of the best mixed martial artists that this country has to offer. Between training with the high-level talent at Adrenaline in London and training with Fraser in Sarnia, Elliott has aligned himself well to flourish in this sport in the future.

I asked Elliott if this was the toughest test yet for a competitor with his experience and his answer was clear,

“It’s all different, it’s hard to compare them. Wrestling, you get some very tough tournaments there but I mean you had great competitors here today. The final here was tough, I had to fight for every takedown and then even if I get a takedown I have to defend my arm or he’s threatening me with chokes.”

This was the third year for The Showdown, which is a unique event in that it is an “openweight challenge” where other events are all divided by weight class. All weight classes were represented well as the semi-finalists were Elliott (165 lb), Fedynszyn (215 lb), Dave Knowles (200 lb) and James Haourt (140 lb) and all matches were tightly contested.

This is the third “32-Man Showdown” and was created, organized and run by Alex Gasson and Pecker’d Services. The competition pulled in a great crowd for the Sports and Recreation show in London.

Please see the attached video for highlights from the event and a word from the winner Andrew Elliott.

Dwight Wakabayashi is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA, MMA Editor at CKSN.ca and guest blogger for Sportsnet.ca

Catch him on Facebook and Twitter at wakafightermma.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 144 Akiyama, Okami, Gomi: How Will the Japanese Fighters Do?

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is making its long-awaited return to Japan this weekend, and the event promises to be a showcase for some of the best Japanese fighters in the world. Of the 12 fights scheduled to take place inside one of MM…

The fighters are scattered throughout the preliminary and main card of the event and notables Takanori “The Fireball Kid” Gomi, Hatsu Hioki, Yushin “Thunder” Okami and superstar “Sexyama” Yoshihiro Akiyama will all be in tough fights on this night.

It is the time for the Rising Sun to shine in MMA, and the stage is set for an incredible night for the Japanese faithful. Will it be a showcase or a beat down for Japanese MMA?

Here are my predictions for the Japanese fighters.

Begin Slideshow

UFC 145: Chris Clements’ Life Is Good Inside and Outside of the Cage

Veteran Canadian mixed martial artist Chris “The Menace” Clements is hitting a very prime time in his life, both inside and outside the cage that he calls his office. Outside the gym Clements is riding high with his recent marriage to long-ti…

“We’re due on March 14th so trying to get the house ready right now my kitchen’s half torn apart, got new cupboards on the floor, old cupboards on the floor.” he says, clearly enjoying the chaos.

“Nursery is…dresser’s are all put up, cribs done still gotta paint the room. I don’t know what we are having so I gotta wait ’til the little thing pops out so we can figure out what color we are going to paint the room.”

All this is life outside the gym and cage and Clements is hitting a very cool stride in his life.

Things are running just as well if not better inside the gym and cage, as Clements is on a four-fight win streak and holds two Canadian titles. Clements got the news he has been working for all of his life in January as he signed a four-fight contract with the UFC and will make his debut against Keith Wisniewski on April 21st in Atlanta.

“I had a couple agents call me after the Clementi win, a couple of different organizations call me up wanting to manage me and stuff,” he said. “A friend of mine Jason Harkes, who runs Professional Fighting Championships in Windsor, had been talking to a guy named Jason Chambers. He made a lot of sense to me and he said he was going to talk to Joe Silva.

“January 6th or so he gave me a call, I was on the treadmill with Mark Hominick. He says to me all casual like it was no big deal, ‘we’ve been trying to get you in to the UFC, we got you in, you are going to be fighting Keith Wisniewski, it’s a four fight contract,’….and I was like whoa whoa wait. I thought it was gonna be bad news, but when he told me it didn’t really hit me at all.”

Clements has been training for years at Adrenaline Training Center amongst current UFC veterans Mark Hominick and Sam Stout. “I was at the gym so Mark announced it to the whole gym and stuff and shook my hand and I was pretty pumped.”

It takes a lot of love and support to be able to make your dreams come true, and it is clear that Clements has plenty of it in his camp.

“It didn’t really hit me until I got home to tell my wife, cause my wife’s been with me since I turned pro pretty much…she knows what it meant to me to get in to the UFC,” Clements said. “I tried to sneak around about it, but there was no being cool at all. I just told her and she started crying right away.”

Clements’ debut was originally set for mid March in Montreal, where friends and family would have been right there to show him support. Scheduling issues at the venue caused the UFC to shift that card to Atlanta in April. While a bit disappointed that his family will not be able to attend, there is no taking the shine off this debut, and Clements has a simple solution for his fans.

“I just plan on going in there and putting on a good show so the UFC has me back for the next Canadian show.”

I am looking forward to Clements vs Wisniewski and a debut that is long overdue.

Dwight Wakabayashi is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA, MMA Editor at CKSN.ca and correspondent for MMACanada.net.

Catch him on Facebook and Twitter at wakafightermma.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com