Winning return for ‘Crank’

Frank “The Crank” Camacho had a triumphant return to the island where his mixed martial arts career started as the Saipan-raised fighter defeated Korean challenger Jae Woong Kim in their non-title bout in last Friday’s Trench Warz 18: Rock & Rumble at the packed Royal Taga Hall of the Saipan World Resort.

Camacho, the main headliner in the featherweight title bout between Roman “Boom” Alvarez and Rob “The Real Deal” Wusstig, fought in front of his hometown crowd for the first time since scoring a knockout win against Nathan Hanson in Trench Warz 5: Return of the Octagon more than seven years ago.

Camacho did not disappoint his numerous fans and showed the same old fighting form that made him one of the best MMA fighters Saipan has produced, winning over Kim via submission in the first round.

Frank “The Crank” Camacho, left, delivers a punch to Jae Woong Kim’s ribcage during their non-title bout in last Friday’s Trench Warz 18: Rock & Rumble at the Royal Taga Hall of the Saipan World Resort. (Jon Perez)

Fight fans eagerly awaiting Camacho’s first fight on Saipan were treated to a mini-cultural show as the 25-year-old fighter, who is now based in Guam, veered away from the usual rap or pop song for an entrance song.

Instead , as an added drama, a group of youngsters danced and chanted in traditional Chamorro music to celebrate and honor Camacho’s cultural roots and the show further fired up the hometown crowd.

When the fight started, the Korean challenger showed that he was no pushover and went toe-to-toe with Camacho for almost five minutes.

Kim, a number of times, pushed Camacho at the sides of the octagon where the former desperately tried to take down his opponent. Kim’s attempts were unsuccessful as Camacho defended well, spreading his legs wide to thwart the takedown. The Korean is a known ground fighter whose style is similar to Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestlers pinning pins down opponents and forcing them to submission.

However, every time Kim was attempting to slam Camacho on the canvass, the latter retaliated by delivering punches to the side and ribcage of his opponent.

Camacho then landed one heavy blow that knocked the wind out of Kim and the Korean just curled up prompting the Trench Tech fighter to go for the kill. Camacho made sure the bell won’t save Kim and ended the fight in 4:38 of the first round via submission on an arm-triangle choke.

“Kim is a very explosive fighter, a strong wrestler and is a known ground fighter. That’s why my game plan was to end the fight right away. Who knows what might have happened if it went the full three rounds,” said Camacho after the fight.

“That’s why I kept on hitting him to slow him down and make him tired. A right shot to his back got him winded out so I went for the kill.”

Meanwhile, 10 undercards were also featured in Trench Warz 18. Results of these matches will be reported in Saipan Tribune’s Wednesday issue.