Sometimes life throws you a curve ball and like most curve balls, you’ll never see it coming. It’ll hit you like lightning and leave you feeling the sting from it for a very very long time. One guy who got thrown a major curve ball by life last week was Mark “The Machine” Hominick. Hominick was already on a 2 fight losing streak and at UFC 145, everyone, including TFN, thought that he was going to rebound. Well, everyone thought so, until he got hit buy a curve ball, a Filipino curve ball named Eddie Yagin.
Last week at UFC 145, the general public was introduced to the man known as “The Filipino Phenom”. Yagin faced Hominick in a 3 round war that left both combatants beaten up, bruised and bloodied. Many thought that Hominick was the sure favorite for the fight and would have an advantage in stand up over Yagin. However, the Filipino surprised fans by out striking Hominick and actually dropping him twice, once in round 1 and another in round 2. In fact, it was pretty clear that Hominick was out when he was dropped in round 1. While Hominick did rally back in round 3, it was too late and Yagin won via split decision. The slugfest eventually was announced as the “Fight of the Night” by Dana White. Anyone who saw the fight would agree that it deserved the honors.
Well, so the question is, where did this badass Filipino come from? Even though Yagin was nowhere on the featherweight map prior to his match with Hominick, he is no stranger to the MMA scene and can be considered a veteran with a 16-5-1 MMA record. In fact, Yagin’s first match in the UFC wasn’t the fight at UFC 145 as he had earlier faced Junior Assuncao at UFC 135. His debut was nothing to shout about and he lost the fight via unanimous decision. Prior to fighting in the UFC, Yagin’s career was mostly made up of fights at events in Hawaii and in California. He is a former X-1 Featherweight Champion and a former Tachi Palace Fights Featherweight Champion. Yagin is Filipino by heritage but he was born in Hawaii where he has lived for the whole 33 years of his life. Yagin currently fights out of San Diego and trains out of Kong Submission Academy.
No one can doubt that Yagin deserved to win his fight against Hominick and he earned his place on the featherweight map. While it’s too soon to say that the tough Filipino can be considered as a possible contender down the road for the 145lb strap, he’s definitely an up and comer to look out for. His best bet would be to take it slow and fight fighters at his level to work his way up the ladder. One thing’s for sure, this tough Filipino is here to stay in the UFC and he’s going to do everything it takes to live up to his claim of being a Phenom.
View article here: http://www.thefightnation.com/know-this-fighter-eddie-the-filipino-phenom-yagin/
