2 title bouts, 13 other fights at ROP 20

Guam’s Rick “2Slick” Camp, left, holds down Trench Tech’s Vince “The Clinch” Masga during their match in Rites of Passage 16 held in 2014. Camp is returning to Saipan this year, as he sees action in one of the two title bouts in ROP 20: Conquer. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Two title fights and 13 other exciting kickboxing and MMA bouts will take place next month as Trench Tech holds Rites of Passage 20: Conquer at The Warehouse.

One of the title bouts featured in the Aug. 19 event will be a Guam vs Saipan duel with Trench Tech’s Stanley “The Raging Bull” Iakopo making his MMA comeback and challenging Spike 22’s Rob “The Real Deal” Wusstig for the lightweight belt.

Iakopo, according to sherdog.com (A site that tracks MMA fighters’ records), has only one MMA bout before taking a long break from the octagon cage. Incidentally, the Samoan-born, but Saipan resident fighter last saw action in a Rites of Passage event (ROP 4: The Uproar) and won over Arnold Balbin via rear-naked chose just 49 seconds into first round of their three-round bout last Feb. 16, 2008.

Wusstig, on the other hand, so far has 15 fights, winning five of them—two were off knockouts. He dropped five of his last six assignments and his lone victory came in ROP 19: Seek and Destroy held in April this year. The Guam fighter scored a TKO win (elbows) against fellow Guam bet Ryan Toves at the 1:37 mark of Round 2. Wusstig will climb into the eight sides and face Iakopo nearly two months after he bowed (unanimous decision) to Japan’s Daisuke Hoshino in Real 5: Real Fight Championship in Tokyo.

Preceding the lightweight title bout between Wusstig and Iakopo is the encounter of Spike 22 Guam’s Ricky Camp and Korean Top Team’s Won Jun Jang for the bantamweight championship.

Camp holds a 6-4 record coming into next month’s event, winning three of his last four fights. However, his recent bout resulted in a loss to Riley Dutro during their bantamweight duel in PXC 50 held last Dec. 4, 2015. Dutro won via submission (triangle choke) at the 2:15 mark of Round 1.

Before falling to Dutro, Camp prevailed against Jarome Cruz in PXC 50, Emilio Urrutia in Pro Fighting 19, and versus Trech Tech’s very own Vince Masga in ROP 16: Unleashed two years ago.

Meanwhile, next month’s ROP 20 will also feature the early return to the octagon cage of Frank “The Crank’ Camacho, who dropped his recent fight in PXC 54, losing to Korean Han Seul Kim in the first round (TKO). Interestingly, Camacho’s next foe is also a Korean—Won Jun Jang.

With his loss to Kim, Camacho fell to an 18-4 record. Jang, on the other hand, has a perfect 4-0 slate, with three of his wins via decisions. His lone TKO victory was recorded late last year against compatriot Jung Yoon-Jeon in Top FC 9: Battle of Incehon, as he stopped (punches) his foe with just three minutes left in the first round.

Before the Camacho-Jang duel, ROP 20 will have three kickboxing bouts and nine other MMA fights, which are subject to changes.