Mark Hominick announces his retirement from the UFC

After 32 professional fights and more than 10 years in the octagon, Mark Hominick is calling it quits.

The 30-year-old featherweight from Thamesford, Ont., announced his retirement from mixed martial arts and the Ultimate Fighting Championship Tuesday night. While he still plans to be involved in the sport in the future, the next phase of his career will allow him to put more focus on his family. His wife Ashley is expecting a second child early next year.

"I truly got to live my passion and follow my dreams by competing in mixed martial arts, especially under the Zuffa banner, but UFC 154, that's the last fight I'll be in the octagon, as I'm retiring and looking to move on to the next phase of my career," Hominick said on Fuel TV's UFC Tonight on Tuesday.

Though he was never one of the top fighters in his weight class, next to Georges St-Pierre, Hominick was widely considered as the most popular Canadian fighter in the UFC.

He's retiring with a 20-12 professional fighting record (he fought seven times in the UFC), but to many fans his most memorable moment in the octagon came in a loss back in 2011. In front of a home crowd at UFC 129 in Toronto, Hominck went toe-to-toe with Jose Aldo for the featherweight championship. Aldo dominated the Canadian fighter for the better part of four rounds leaving him bloody and with a baseball-sized hematoma on his forehead. (WARNING: graphic photo) But the fight continued and in the fifth round Hominick put forth a courageous comeback getting Aldo on the ground and doing his best to end the fight. Unfortunately for Hominick, one round of dominance wasn't enough to earn him a victory, but he did receive a rousing ovation from the crowd.

"He was incredible," UFC president Dana White said at the post-fight press conference that night. "I thought this was going to be the fight of the night I think [Hominick] has a ton of experience, a ton of heart and he was going to come out and try and win that title. He put on a gutsy performance, he's a tiny guy with a huge heart and it was an awesome performance."

The loss that night was the first in what's turned into a string of defeats culminating most recently at UFC 154 in Montreal where the Canadian fell to Pablo Garza via unanimous decision.