“People haven’t seen him against a top level striker, he’s dominated everybody and he’s pushed paces on everybody so we will see what happens when he has to take a step backwards.”
That is what Mark Hominick (20-8) had to say to MMA Mania about his upcoming fight against Jose Aldo (18-1) at UFC 129 on April 30th in Toronto for the UFC Featherweight Championship.
Going into the fight Hominick is a massive underdog as Jose Aldo is one of the most well-rounded and exciting fighters in MMA and is widely considered to be in the Top 10 of the best pound for pound fighters in the world.
Aldo has a blackbelt in Brazilian Jui-Jitsu and is an incredibly dynamic striker that throws a variety of punches, kicks and knees. Some people have even taken to calling him the “Anderson Silva” of featherweights and after watching his highlight reel its easy to see why.
Yet as great as Aldo is he has never faced a striker as accomplished and technically sound as Mark Hominick. Hominick’s nickname is “the Machine” because he rarely shows any emotion when fighting or during interviews but more importantly because his technique is so machinelike. He throws crisp and accurate punches and his ground game is solid as well.
Hominick trains under Shawn Tompkins who is a world renowned kickboxing instructor at The Adrenaline Training Center in London, Ontario. Tompkins also works with other top UFC fighters such as Goran Reljic, Vitor Belfort and Wanderlei Silva. Hominick has also been working with some of Canada’s 2012 Summer Olympic boxing hopefuls in preparation for what he feels will be a “fight for the ages.”
Aldo is aware of Hominick’s striking ability and although he is no slouch on the feet himself he has brought in a new striking coach to prepare for Hominick. He has started training with Andy Souwer who is a Dutch welterweight shoot boxer. He is two time K-1 World MAX champion (2005, 2007) as well as the reigning three time Shootboxing World tournament champion.
With both Aldo and Hominick training primarily with striking coaches fans should expect this to be a standup fight with neither fighter looking to take the fight to the ground.
If that is in fact the case and the entire fight is fought on the feet then one area of concern for Hominick should be Aldo’s leg kicks. During his fight against Urijah Faber Aldo landed some of the nastiest leg kicks I have ever seen and pretty much made Faber a cripple as he had to be carried to his corner after each round and then carried out of the Octagon after the fight was over. That doesn’t bode well for Hominick who in the past (case in point early in his fight against Yves Jabouin) has shown an inability to effectively check leg kicks. That very well could be the difference in the fight.
Many people are overlooking Hominick in this fight but I think he has a decent, yet small, chance of defeating Aldo. Hominick has never been knocked out by strikes before, he has knockout power of his own, his strikes have pinpoint accuracy, he pushes the pace by always moving forward and his liver punches are hard to prepare for and devastating. I’m not saying he is a better striker than Aldo but if he can keep it on the feet then at least he has a punchers chance.
However if Hominick is indeed intent on making Jose Aldo “take a step back” then he needs to remember one thing: Jose Aldo trains at Black House with Anderson Silva and we all know what happens when you try and make a Black House fighter back up (just ask Forrest Griffin).
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