‘The Crank’ KOs foe in UWC debut

The CNMI’s pride Frank “The Crank” Camacho debuted at the Ultimate Warrior Challenge-Extreme Cage Fighting with a knockout win against Binky “The Baltimore Submission Machine” Jones in their middleweight bout in the UWC 6 Capital Punishment late last month.

Camacho, who had his first professional MMA fight in a year and a half, was in control of the bout in the first round and hit Jones with a big right to the chin in the second round. Jones dropped to the canvas and Camacho went after him. But before Camacho could punish Jones even further, the referee stepped in, awarding a KO win to the CNMI fighter.

The victory improved Camacho’s win-loss record to 4-2, while the loss was Jones’ eighth in 15 fights.

“Jones is a very skilled submission specialist, who is a brown belt in Brazilian Jiujitsu [ranking right below black belt in BJJ],” said Camacho, who trains and is locally affiliated with the Trench Tech Gym.

But Jones’ submission techniques did not work against Camacho, as the latter used his quickness and power to deck the former.

With only a few seconds gone by in the first round, Camacho connected on right kick to Jones’ body, flooring the Renzo Gracie Ground Control Academy fighter. Once on the ground, Camacho bombarded Jones with body punches. At the three-minute mark, Camacho went up and slammed Jones to the floor.

Camacho continued to hit Jones with body punches before the former let go of his foe in the last 1:48 of the first round. After a breather, Camacho was at it again, decking Jones and connecting on a flurry of punches, anew.

In the second round, Jones tried to be aggressive, going after Camacho. But the Team Lloyd Irvin fighter wisely moved out of the corner and engaged Jones in exchanges of punches. With two fighters up on their feet, Camacho found an opening and connected on a quick right on Jones’ chin.

Jones’ cornermen went after the downed fighter, who took a few minutes to realize what had hit him, while Camacho celebrated to the roar of the crowd at George Mason University Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia.

Camacho, in an email to Saipan Tribune, thanked his family and friends on Saipan for supporting his off-island fights.

“I would like to thank my friends and family for all the love and support. Cuki, Jason, Randy, Kato, Coach Joe, and the whole Trench Tech familia for believing in me and paving the road for me to take that next step, and most importantly to the people of the Saipan and the Marianas for all the support. We are such a small island, but the world will know where the Marianas is. Biba Marianas!” Camacho said.