Camacho-Dober duel tagged one of the best

Frank “The Crank” Camacho, right, punches Drew Dober during their bout in UFC on FOX 27: Jacare vs Brunson 2 last Jan. 27, 2018 at the Spectrum Centre in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Contributed Photo)

Frank “The Crank” Camacho may have lost his bout with Drew Dober, but still won the respect of the mixed martial arts community, as their Ultimate Fighting Championship bout at the Spectrum Centre in Charlotte, North Carolina was named in the Top 10 Fights of 2018.

Camacho and the Omaha-born warrior Dober appeared in the UFC on FOX 27: Jacare vs Brunson 2 last Jan. 27 with the Marianas pride losing via decision, but not after trading punches and standing toe-to-toe with the former. The duel was so close and action-packed that two of the three judges had Dober winning by only a point, 29-28, and the two fighters combined for more than 600 strikes thrown.

His match against Dober earned Camacho his third Fight of the Night honors and was ranked No. 9 in the Top 10 Fights of 2018 story written by Thomas Gerbasi and posted at the official UFC website.

“With three UFC appearances and three Fight of the Night bonuses in his first trio of appearances, Frank Camacho rapidly became a must see fighter, and while he emerged from those three bouts with a 1-2 record, I bet if you’ve seen him compete, you remember the fights and not the result. In this one, it was Dober taking the decision in a 15-minute bout where each welterweight left it all in the octagon,” stated in the part of the story about Camacho and Dober.

The 29-year-old has yet to respond to Saipan Tribune’s questions, asking for his comments in this latest recognition and his fight plans for 2019. However, in his official Facebook account, he posted the story on the Top 10 Fights of 2018 and vowed to keep going all out in his next bouts.

“In 2019, we will still be bringing it,” Camacho said.

His bloody encounter with Dober was the penultimate in his four-fight contract with UFC. Camacho lost his first against China’s Jingliang Li and then won over Australia’s Damien Brown before falling short anew to Dober. His last was versus Geoff Neal and the veteran MMA fighter lost, again. Though he took three defeats, Camacho, in an earlier interview, indicated that the three Fight of the Night honors he earned would be enough to get him another chance to be octagon cage for UFC.

Meanwhile, the Robert Whittaker-Yoel Romero 2 bout in June during the UFC 225 in Chicago, Illinois landed on the No.1 spot of the rankings.

The equally intense battle ended in a controversial, as some claimed, win for Whittaker of New Zealand.