It has been said that professional fighting is 90 percent mental. Whether that is true or not, being mentally prepared an important factor that many fans overlook. At UFC 140 we witnessed a fight that went drastically in the opposite direction from what experts and fans alike had predicted. Once it was over we could do nothing else but speculate what was going on in the losing fighter’s head. While he may have been physically ready for the event, I would not be surprised if the mental aspect of the battle had slipped away from him.
Mark Hominick was finished in what may be one of the fastest victories in mixed martial arts history. He jumped out and flashed two winging punches, only to be caught with a counter by Chan Sung Jung and finished before most viewers were even settled in their seats. There’s no way I or any other writer can peer into the mind of a professional athlete; however, that doesn’t stop us from trying.
A variety of theories have been proffered to explan Hominick’s loss at UFC 140. The word “overconfident” has been batted around by some. Others have tried to attribute the outcome to the fact that he was fighting as the “hometown” favorite. Still others have attributed it to the effects of the death of his long time trainer and friend Shawn Tompkins. Regardless of which theory is correct, this multitude of explanations shows just how many different factors can affect a fighter as he or she prepares for a fight. What is even worse for that fighter is that without even knowing it, that fighter’s abilities in the cage can be affected. Instead of being a calculated fighter, we may see that individual jumping into dangerous positions which can quickly cost him or her the fight.
Let’s compare what happened with Hominick to what occurred when Melvin Guillard fought Joe Lauzon earlier this year. Just like Hominick, Guillard was the overwhelming favorite going into the fight, and also fighting in front of a hometown crowd. Guillard was working to position himself for a title shot, just as Hominick was doing, even though he has a recent loss to Jose Aldo. Guillard was also quickly stopped when he was dropped by a counter punch and submitted in early moments of the opening frame. You might feel differently, but I believe the same type of overconfidence affected these two fighters, which led to the same result.
If we look at another angle, and question whether the death of Tompkins played a part in Hominick’s mental state before the bout, we will be able to draw comparisons to the recent in-cage performance of Jake Shields. Shields was violently and quickly finished by Jake Ellenberger just days after his father and manager, Jack Shields, died at the age of 67. While Shields didn’t say it himself, many people believed that such an emotional loss played into how he prepared and performed when he stepped into the Octagon that evening.
While this loss may hurt Hominick, he will eventually be able to move on and focus on the next opponent. Either way I hope this is a learning experience for him, Guillard, or any other overconfident fighter who begins to believe what the experts are saying. If you want to quickly find yourself in trouble and on the losing end of a contest, keep listening.
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or zombie was the better man that night