Canadian Hominick Returns With Rare Triangle-Armbar At WEC 46

As former TKO champion, longtime Canadian MMA stand-out, and current WEC featherweight Mark "The Machine" Hominick (17-8, 2-0 UFC, 1-2 WEC) said in his post-fight interview, you don't always get a second chance in life. Most people would probably agree, but, when Hominick got his chance at MMA redemption on the preliminary card at WEC 46: Varner vs. Henderson, he knew exactly what to do with it: show the assembled fans something amazing.

Coming off a series of injuries and having gone almost a year-and-a-half without competing, the London, Ontario native was faced with a strong submissions fighter in Brian Caraway (14-4), who was riding a three-fight winning streak. Early in the match, Hominick was taken down with a slick double-leg. "The Machine" spent the rest of the fight flat on his back, but kept busy with threatening upkicks and a very active guard. Then, at 3:48 of the first round, Hominick locked in an impressive triangle-armbar, which earned the preliminary fight a coveted spot on the televised main card.

Yes, that's right-- it looks a lot like a triangle, but hurts just like and armbar-- it's a triangle-armbar. Actually, this was not the first time Hominick utilized the exotic move in a major fight. The last time was in Hominick's UFC debut against the very talented Yves Edwards (36-15-1) at UFC 58: USA vs. Canada on March 4th, 2006.

Unfortunately for Mark, who probably could have found a use for an extra $10,000 U.S., it was WEC superstar and former featherweight champion Urijah Faber (23-3) who won the "Submission of the Night" at WEC 46. Faber won, of course, for the rear-naked choke he slapped on Rafael Assuncao (14-2). That finish was certainly impressive, especially given Assuncao's BJJ chops, but it was not nearly as technical of a hold as Hominick's apparent new specialty. Oh well, maybe next time.

Speaking of next time, just what could be next for the Shawn Tompkins product Hominick, who, like his training partner Sam Stout (15-5-1), should now be looking at a big name fighter on a Zuffa main card showdown?

The answer to that for Hominick would seem to be Lithuainian Deividas Taurosevicius (12-3, 2-0 WEC) who was also victorious at WEC 46 where he used stellar positional grappling to outpoint Mackens Semerzier (5-1). The reason that Taurosevicius, who desperately requires a catchy cage name, is a no-brainer for Hominick's next opponent is that they were previously scheduled to fight each other on two separate occasions, once in the WEC and once in the now-defunct Affliction MMA promotion. In fact, Hominick was scheduled to face Taurosevicius at WEC 43 last October before being forced to pull out of the scrap with an undisclosed injury. If Hominick vs. Taurosevicius does go down it will surely set the winner up for a major contender at featherweight, which is arguably the WEC's deepest division.

No, we certainly do not always get second chances in life. Still, just in case you ever do happen to get one of your own, you need only look at Hominick's return performance at WEC 46 to see an example how to capitalize on it when you do.

Congratulations, Mark.