Add this upcoming documentary to the pile of must-see soon-to-be-released MMA movies along with “Once I was a Champion” and “Fightville.”
“Fight Spirit Pride” looks back on former UFC featherweight contender Mark Hominick’s crossover period from Canadian MMA standout to popular Octagon veteran five years ago. Though it should have been one of the most exciting and happy times of his life, it was one of the most stressful and painful for Hominick as his father was also dying from cancer.
“This is a Documentary film about a UFC fighter’s struggle between being there for his dying father, and his career. This documentary is a very raw uncensored microscopic look into the life of a fighter; it has two deaths and two births.”
Check out the trailer after the jump.
Add this upcoming documentary to the pile of must-see soon-to-be-released MMA movies along with “Once I was a Champion” and “Fightville.”
“Fight Spirit Pride” looks back on former UFC featherweight contender Mark Hominick’s crossover period from Canadian MMA standout to popular Octagon veteran five years ago. Though it should have been one of the most exciting and happy times of his life, it was actually one of the most stressful and painful for Hominick as his father was also dying from cancer.
“This is a Documentary film about a UFC fighter’s struggle between being there for his dying father, and his career. This documentary is a very raw uncensored microscopic look into the life of a fighter; it has two deaths and two births.”
Filed under: DREAM, UFC, Bellator, Rankings, FeatherweightsThe No. 1 featherweight in mixed martial arts returned to the cage at UFC 142 and needed less than one round to dispatch an opponent who entered the fight undefeated and widely regarded as the …
The No. 1 featherweight in mixed martial arts returned to the cage at UFC 142 and needed less than one round to dispatch an opponent who entered the fight undefeated and widely regarded as the No. 2 featherweight in MMA. So where does Jose Aldo go now after defeating Chad Mendes?
Aldo’s camp has indicated he doesn’t intend to move up to 155 pounds unless it’s to fight for the UFC lightweight title. So that’s probably not in the offing. And that raises the question: Are there any challengers left for Aldo at 145 pounds?
For the identity of some potential opponents for Aldo going forward, check out the latest list of the top 10 featherweights in mixed martial arts below.
Top 10 Featherweights in Mixed Martial Arts (Number in parentheses is the fighter’s previous ranking.)
1. Jose Aldo (1): What’s been so impressive about Aldo is how none of his fights are even close. Since signing with Zuffa in 2008 Aldo is 11-0, with four wins by first-round knockout or TKO, three wins by second-round knockout or TKO, one win by third-round TKO, and three wins by unanimous decision. He didn’t lose more than one round in any of the three decisions, all of which were five-round fights.
2. Hatsu Hioki (3): Hioki has a great resume, with wins over Marlon Sandro, Takeshi Inoue, Ronnie Mann and Mark Hominick twice. But he looked just so-so in winning a split decision over George Roop in his UFC debut. He’ll have to look better when he faces Bart Palaszewski back home in Japan at UFC 144 if he wants to prove he belongs in the Octagon with Aldo.
3. Chad Mendes (2): The best hope Mendes had of beating Aldo was getting him down and getting on top of him, and Aldo’s takedown defense proved to be too good. (Aldo did benefit from grabbing the fence at one point.) Mendes is a good enough wrestler to threaten almost anyone at 145 pounds, but Aldo is leaps and bounds better than him as a striker.
4. Pat Curran (4): Curran looked outstanding in defeating Marlon Sandro in the Bellator featherweight tournament final, and Bellator has a great featherweight title fight lined up for March 9, with Curran taking on Joe Warren.
5. Erik Koch (5): Koch was supposed to fight Dustin Poirier at UFC 143 in what could have given the UFC its next No. 1 contender at featherweight. Unfortunately Koch is injured and had to drop out of the fight, and a return date for Koch has not been announced.
6. Bart Palaszewski (NR): Palaszewski’s impressive win over Tyson Griffin establishes him as a potential future contender to the featherweight belt. Moving down to featherweight was a great move for him, but he’ll have a tough test on his hands against Hioki at UFC 144.
7. Tatsuya Kawajiri (9): After dropping down to featherweight last year, Kawajiri submitted both Joachim Hansen and Kazuyuki Miyata. A fight with Dream featherweight champion Hiroyuki Takaya would be great.
8. Dustin Poirier (10): Poirier will take on Max Holloway at UFC 143, and if he puts on a good show he might find himself getting Aldo next.
9. Chan Sung Jung (NR): After Aldo, the Korean Zombie might be the hottest featherweight in the sport right now. He was recognized as having the Fight of the Year in 2010 with Leonard Garcia and the Submission of the Year in 2011 for finishing Garcia with a twister in their rematch, and then he needed just seven seconds to knock out Mark Hominick. Jung is on such a roll right now that there’s some talk he could be next in line for Aldo, although that would be an extremely tall order: Jung is a lot of fun to watch, but Aldo is on another level as a striker.
10. Mark Hominick (6): Hominick is now on a two-fight losing streak after falling to Aldo and Jung, but he’ll hold onto his spot in the Top 10 for now. He’s a skilled striker who’s still only 29 years old and has a good future in the featherweight division, but he should get a step down in quality of competition, which is just what he will get when he takes on Eddie Yagin at UFC 145 in Atlanta.
Filed under: UFC, NewsCanadians Mark Hominick and Mark Bocek will play host to Eddie Yagin and Matt Wiman, respectively, at UFC 145 on March 24 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
The UFC announced Tuesday that verbal agreements are in place for the two b…
Canadians Mark Hominick and Mark Bocek will play host to Eddie Yagin and Matt Wiman, respectively, at UFC 145 on March 24 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
The UFC announced Tuesday that verbal agreements are in place for the two bouts.
Featherweight Hominick (20-10) will look to end a two-fight losing streak that began with his unsuccessful title challenge against Jose Aldo in April 2011 and extended with a seven-second knockout loss to Chan-Sung Jung last month.
Yagin (15-5-1) is a Filipino-American out of Hawaii who fell short in his UFC debut last September against Junior Assuncao.
In 2011, Toronto’s Bocek (9-4) fought to a decision loss against lightweight title contender Ben Henderson and then bounced back with a win over Nik Lentz.
Wiman (14-6) has won four of his last five fights and in his most recent fight in October, earned a decision over Mac Danzig.
UFC 145 will be the promotion’s first event in Canada of 2012 and its first trip back to the Bell Centre since UFC 124: St-Pierre vs. Koscheck 2 in December 2010.
Previously, Todd Duffee held the distinction for his :07 routing of Tim Hague at UFC 102 back in 2009 and it was believed that Chan-Sung Jung mirrored The Duffman’s time earlier this month when he knocked out Mark Hominick at UFC 140.
On closer inspection it seems that neither fighter really holds the record as it really belongs to Ludwig, whose 2006 knockout over Jonathan Goulet at UFN 3 was previously in the books at :11.
(Why does Keith have to be such a mean old Grinch? Pic props Getty Images)
Previously, Todd Duffee held the distinction for his :07 routing of Tim Hague at UFC 102 back in 2009 and it was believed that Chan-Sung Jung mirrored The Duffman’s time earlier this month when he knocked out Mark Hominick at UFC 140.
On closer inspection it seems that neither fighter really holds the record as it really belongs to Ludwig, whose 2006 knockout over Jonathan Goulet at UFN 3 was previously in the books at :11.
(Video courtesy of YouTube/UFC)
As White points out, from the time Mario Yamasaki claps his hands to start the bout to when he touches “Bang” to indicate the fight is over is 6.06 seconds. Duffee’s actual finishing time was 7.56 seconds and “The Korean Zombie’s” was 6.26 seconds.
Translation: The top three fastest KOs in UFC history were Ludwig over Goulet (6.06 seconds), Jung over Hominick (6.26 seconds) and Duffee over Hague (7.56 seconds).
Unfortunately, the Nevada State Athletic Commission doesn’t believe that its employee made a mistake and as such it is refusing to accept the record change, even if the UFC has.
“The ruling is that it stays at 11. There’s no legal avenue to overturn it. I timed it myself with a stopwatch. It was eight seconds. Officially, it’s got to stay at 11 seconds, but unofficially, it could be at eight,” NSAC Executive Director Keith Kizer told MMAjunkie on Monday. “If you use a stopwatch, from the time the fight starts to the time that Mario grabs Duane, it’s about 7.9 seconds. Why the official timekeeper had it at 11, I don’t know. But it wasn’t 11, and it wasn’t four, either.”
Although the World Boxing Council’s records list Duffee as the holder as the fastest KO in UFC history and Jung as the only person to tie the feat, Zuffa isn’t recognizing their erroneous records.
“They can say whatever they want,” Kizer said. “Sounds like they want to be the WBC for some reason.”
Now that we’ve all officially finished binge-eating/drinking our way through Christmas, our good pal DW is back and with a late gift of his own – the gift of heartbreak. In typical fashion, this week’s Danavlog focuses on the aftermath of UFC 140, giving us a behind the scenes look at the pre and post-fight moments of Tito Ortiz, Jon Jones, and perhaps most importantly, Krzystof Soszynski, who, after suffering a 35 second knockout at the hands of Igor Pokrajac, informs us that he has fought his last MMA contest. Whether he is just pulling a BJ Penn on us or is truly sincere about his decision remains to be seen, but if we really have witnessed the last of “The Polish Experiment,” we here at CP would just like to thank him for all the great fights and wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.
Join us after the jump for the rest of the highlights.
Now that we’ve all officially finished binge-eating/drinking our way through Christmas, our good pal Dana is back and with a late gift of his own – the gift of heartbreak. In typical fashion, this week’s Danavlog focuses on the aftermath of UFC 140, giving us a behind the scenes look at the pre and post-fight moments of Tito Ortiz, Jon Jones, and perhaps most importantly, Krzystof Soszynski, who, after suffering a 35 second knockout at the hands of Igor Pokrajac, informs us that he has fought his last MMA contest. Whether he is just pulling a BJ Penn on us or is truly sincere about his decision remains to be seen, but if we really have witnessed the last of “The Polish Experiment,” we here at CP would just like to thank him for all the great fights and wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.
Some highlights.
00:16 – Dana White “You guys have been bitching about me not popping out blogs. I swear to God, I mean it this time, I will be popping out blogs this week. Fight week, blog week!” We’ll believe it when we see it, DW.
1:00 – Walel Watson pleads his case after dropping a unanimous decision to Yves Jabouin. Personally, this was the only fight on the card that I missed, and considering Sherdog’s three livebloggers scored it three different ways, I’m guessing the second and third rounds weren’t as cut and dry as Watson claims.
2:40 – Now that Tito Ortiz has begun to make some significant life changes, might we suggest he overhauls his pre-fight pump up music, because that auto-tune shit is weak, son. Throw on some Pantera if you really want to hurt someone.
3:15 – Soszynski makes his announcement, then asks Igor Pokrajac if he can split his Knockout of the Night bonus that will eventually be upended by Chan Sung Jung. Mark Munoz plays the role of supportive friend.
4:36 – Mark Hominick explains to the physician that he remembers every second of his fight with “The Korean Zombie.” It has been said that the human brain can only store seven things in its short term memory bank, so his recollection seems about right.
5:06 – The Black House crew, warming up.
5:50 – Then celebrating Lil Nog’s win over Ortiz.
6:00 – Ortiz informs the physician that none of his ribs are broken. His soul, on the other hand, is cracked to say the least.
6:30 – Jon Jones is a screamer, Lyoto Machida is not.
7:40 – A feeling that most of us will never know, and probably the reason that Brett Favre can’t quite come to terms with retirement. It’s hard to blame the guy.
Former Team Tompkins fighter Kasheem “The Dream” Peterson was acquitted by a London, Ontario jury Tuesday of all charges against him stemming from an April sexual assault arrest in the city where he was staying for the month to help his then-coach Shawn Tompkins prepare Mark Hominick for his UFC 129 bout with Jose Aldo.
As the verdict was read out, Peterson, who had sat stone-faced throughout the trial nodded to the jury.
Former Team Tompkins fighter Kasheem “The Dream” Peterson was acquitted by a London, Ontario jury Tuesday of all charges against him stemming from an April sexual assault arrest in the city where he was staying for the month to help his then-coach Shawn Tompkins prepare Mark Hominick for his UFC 129 bout with Jose Aldo.
As the verdict was read out, Peterson, who had sat stone-faced throughout the trial nodded to the jury.
According to court records, it is alleged that Peterson and his accuser met at a local club and that both remained in the bar after closing where they snorted cocaine in the women’s bathroom. The alleged victim maintained that she felt uneasy around the fighter, but gave him a ride home anyway when he asked her to. Peterson contended she had made advances at him all night and that she drove him home with the intention of having sex, but wouldn’t go inside the house because she didn’t want any of the other fighters to see her there, so they drove to a parking lot where they could have more privacy. The victim stated that Peterson accused her of erratic driving because of the drugs and alcohol in her system and he grabbed the wheel and steered her vehicle into an abandoned lot. It was there that she claims he forced himself on her and wrestled with her in her SUV and choked her with a seatbelt while he sexually assaulted her. She testified that she got so fed up with his persistence that she threw her hands up in the air and told him to do whatever he wanted to her and to let her know when he was done.
Peterson was charged with sexual assault, choking and forcible confinement and has been in jail for the past eight months awaiting trial. When news of the charges broke, Tompkins condemned Peterson’s actions and dropped him from the team.
Part of the defense’s case hinged on the agreed upon fact that Peterson had sexual dysfunction issues that night and could not actually have intercourse as a result. His lawyer said that for a macho fighter like “The Dream” to admit such an embarrassing fact, he must be telling the truth about the rest of the story. The victim waited until mid-afternoon to go to police and hospital where she was treated for a cut on her finger and bruising on her arms and neck. Doctors did not find any trauma that would indicate that she was sexually assaulted.
The 29-year-old 4-1-1 welterweight who lives in Las Vegas and trains out of TapouT Training Center, will have another hearing with immigration in Windsor before being allowed to return back to the U.S. His court case cast a new light on a past criminal record that is rumored to be related to drug trafficking, and as a result the Canadian government may revoke his traveling rights to The Great White North.
“He’d been allowed into Canada on at least two or three previous occasions with no problem,” Peterson’s lawyer Brian Chambers told the London Free Press yesterday.”When these charges arose, Immigration took a different stance.”
Chambers expects that the immigration issue will be cleared up in two to three weeks, meaning in spite of the fact that he is technically a free man, Peterson will spend the holidays behind bars.
The No. 1 featherweight in mixed martial arts returned to the cage at 
Canadians 
