"I was just honored to be a part of the press conference to be announcing they're coming back to Toronto," Hominick told MMAjunkie.com Radio (
MMAjunkie.com Radio | MMAjunkie.com). "That's a huge honor."
So the announcement didn't go so well. Hominick's satellite feed was about five seconds behind real time, and comedy ensued when he wrestled with the delay.
"It was pretty embarrassing," he joked. "I could see everything, and once I could see everything, I started speaking, and then I started hearing (UFC president) Dana (White) in my ear, and then I started hearing what I was saying 10 seconds before that. So it was pretty much chaos."
But these are minor annoyances. The bigger issue for Hominick is getting back to where he was in his career just 12 months ago. After years of inconsistent performances, he put together the biggest win streak of his big-show career and earned a title shot with champ Jose Aldo at UFC 129. He was unsuccessful in taking the belt, but he won over countless fans with a gutsy performance at the record-breaking Toronto event. Then came a seven-second knockout at the hands of Chan Sung Jung seven months later at UFC 140 in Toronto, and all at once, his momentum came to a halt.
"It was one of those fights you didn't want to sit and dwell on it too much because it was what it was," Hominick said. "It was a seven-second knockout. It came out of character, so I came out aggressively and paid the price for it.
"I wanted to win so bad. There were so many things going on with the passing of (trainer) Shawn (Tompkins), and I really wanted to make a statement that I'm not going anywhere, my team's not going anywhere, and I just came looking to knock him out. Any time you go looking for the knockout, it doesn't happen."
Still, Hominick (20-10 MMA, 1-2 UFC) could certainly use an emphatic win when he takes on his next challenge, a fight with veteran Eddie Yagin (15-5-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) at UFC 145, which takes place April 21 at Phillips Arena in Atlanta. The main card, including Hominick's fight, airs live on pay-per-view. (Preliminary-card fights air on FX and stream on Facebook.)
As Hominick correctly points out, the UFC's featherweight division is still the land of opportunity a little over a year after it became an integrated part of the UFC.
"The first title fight was in April of last year," he said. "So for the fighters, it gives them a lot of opportunities because you can have a huge performance, and all of the, sudden you're up there with the top contenders.
"These guys, even though we've been competing in the WEC and have established records ... the average UFC fan [doesn't] know who you are. So the biggest thing is going out there and making statement fights ... and you're already in contention."
Of course, trying to make a statement got Hominick in trouble the last time out. But this time he's surely going to be smarter about how he approaches the fight. Going in guns blazing is the last thing he's going to do this time around.
Like Hominick, Yagin has been around for a long time and had his share of ups and downs in MMA. After falling short to Junior Assuncao in his octagon debut, Yagin is looking to make a statement of his own and could take a big leap up with a win at UFC 145.
So Hominick is preparing for a tough fight.
"He's been around longer than I have," Hominick said of his opponent. "I remember fighting on a card with him when I was 18 years old in 2002. He's got a very powerful right hand, and he comes to fight. You couldn't ask for a better opponent."
Could Hominick ever rise to the level of a GSP as the ambassador of MMA in Canada? Unlikely, but even being on the country's Mount Rushmore of fighters isn't too bad. And with more shows than ever headed to home turf, he aims to make his countrymen happy.
"They're hungry for it," he said. "They always show up in numbers."
