Mark Hominick's victory in the UFC Fight For The Troops live event landed him a title shot in UFC 129.

"I didn't think I would be doing this as a career, but I wanted to compete professionally," said Hominick. He has come a long way since starting the profession in Grade 9, fighting in 13 UFC events among other competitions, including the WEC.

For Hominick, this is a major career move. "Fighting for the title is a huge opportunity. This is the biggest UFC of all time, so just to be a part of it is almost like an overnight success."

A shot at the title for Hominick was bound to happen. He had to turn down a title fight on January 1 due to a thumb injury, but he remained positive. "Things in life happen for a reason. Fighting for the first time in Ontario, being on the main card, fighting for the belt, this is a huge, huge, huge opportunity here."

A natural progression is how Hominick describes his entrance to the sport. He began grappling in Grade 9, which then lead him to kickboxing and eventually landed him in mixed martial arts.

Hominick made his first MMA debut in 2002 against Richard Nancoo, the Canadian UCC champion at the time. Hominick took the fight in the third round by knockout, his favourite way to win. This fight earned him the featherweight Canadian title, which he went on to defend nine times.

Hominick has had many other successes in the sport, including ISKA Canadian Welterweight Kickboxing Champion and IFK Super Welterweight Kickboxing Champion. His kickboxing record is one to be remembered with a record of 21 fights won and zero lost. In MMA, he holds a record of 17-8.

Perhaps this is why Hominick is nicknamed "The Machine."

"My trainer Sean Tomkins thought I trained like a machine, I just didn't have any kind of emotion ... I just trained like a machine and fought like a machine," he said.

Until recently, UFC did not hold fights in Hominick's weight class, which left him competing twice in the 155 lb weight class, when Hominick himself is only 145 lbs. With his machine-like capabilities, he won both fights in that class. When asked if he would ever go up a division, Hominick confidently said, "I always thought I'd be a world champion at 145." It looks as though he is on his way there.

After years of fighting and training, Hominick said his most inspirational moment was his first UFC event. "My first fight was a live pay-per-view. It was in Las Vegas — it was all big scale. Fighting live under the bright lights, that's when I looked around and was like, 'Okay, I finally made it.'"

As with any other fighter, he still gets nerves to this day, which he said is a good thing because they keep him alert and ready to fight.

Hominick will fight Jose Aldo in his UFC 129 title fight. The event will be held in Toronto at the Rogers Centre for the first UFC event to occur in Ontario.