‘Crank’ to face Dober on Jan. 27

Frank “The Crank” Camacho is expected to have his hands full when he takes on another Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran in Drew Dober of Omaha, Nebraska, two weeks from now for UFC ON FOX 27: Jacare VS Brunson 2.

The Camacho-Dober match will open an 11-fight undercard with the Ronaldo Souza-Derek Brunson bout set as the main event on Jan. 27 at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Camacho (21-5 with 15 knockouts) and Dober (18-8 with 4 KOs) looked even on paper with the latter earning a slight advantage by fighting in the UFC since 2013.

Dober turned pro on July 24, 2009 in Victory Fighting Championship 28: Throwdown where he defeated Frank Caraballo by TKO. He also saw action in other mixed martial arts promotions like Fight To Win, Bellator MMA, Titan FC, Disorderly Conduct, and Centurion Fights.

The 29-year-old Denver-based Elevation Fight Team member dropped his UFC debut against Sean Spencer in UFC: The Ultimate Fighter 18 Finale on Nov. 30, 2013. He lost by unanimous decision in the second bout that featured Nate Diaz beating Gray Maynard in the headliner.

Camacho, on the other hand, has slowly went back to hard training after earning a historic first UFC win against Damien Brown, via split decision, two months ago in UFC Fight Night 121: Werdum VS. Tybura at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia.

The Marianas pride, like Dober, lost his first UFC fight when he took on Jingliang Li of China in UFC Fight Night 111: Holm VS Correa on June 17 last year. Before stepping on the UFC stage, Camacho began his MMA career on Saipan, fighting locally in Trench Warz and then moving to the Pacific Xtreme Combat and Gerran Haga in Guam. He also saw action in the Universal Reality Combat Championship in the Philippines, and the Ultimate Warrior Challenge in Virginia.

He is now on his third UFC fight as he works on his dream of earning a spot in one of the big time bouts in Las Vegas.

Camacho-Brown in UFC Top 10
Camacho’s split decision win over Brown was ranked fifth in the UFC’s Top 10 Fights of 2017, ahead of the George St. Pierre-Michael Bisping match that came in ninth.

The 28-year-old Marianas fighter thanked Brown for the honor as the Australian also gave it his all in their explosive match in front of a sellout crowd in New South Wales.

“It wouldn’t have been possible without Brown. He is an Australian Army veteran. There’s definitely no quitting in him,” Camacho told Saipan Tribune.

“It’s very humbling and for me personally, it’s a milestone because I knew that this is what I wanted to do in my life. I’m so passionate about it and the UFC fans around the world really appreciated and voted for us because of the island fighting spirit,” he added.