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‘Crank’ gets second UFC fight for 2019
Frank “The Crank” Camacho hits Jingliang Li during their bout in UFC Fight Night 111 in Singapore in 2017. Camacho will return to Singapore to face California’s Beneil ‘’Benny’’ Dariush. (Contributed Photo)
After an impressive victory in his first fight of the year, Frank “The Crank” Camacho will climb back on the octagon cage, as he squares off against Beneil “Benny’’ Dariush in UFC Fight Night 161 in Singapore next month.
The Marianas pride will duel the California fighter in one of the 13 events in the fight card that will feature the U.S.-Brazil showdown between Ben Askren and Demian Maia on Oct. 27 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang. Camacho will challenge Dariush after whipping Germany’s Nick “Sergeant” Hein in the UFC Fight Night 153 in Stockhom, Sweden in June.
The 30-year-old earned a TKO win over Hein at the 4:56 mark of the five-minute second round for win No. 22 and a big comeback from a KO loss to Geoff Neal in UFC 228 in September last year. Overall, Camacho will have his sixth UFC fight and he will be gunning for his third victory. The Team Oyama fighter’s other triumph was against Damien Brown during the UFC Fight Night 121 in Australia in November 2017, while his defeats were at the hands of Drew Dober in UFC on Fox 27 in January last year and Jingliang Li on UFC Fight Night 111.
Dariush has more UFC fights than Camacho and holds a 10-4-1 win-draw-loss mark in the American MMA promotion company-organized bouts and 16-4-1 overall.
Dariush, who will face Camacho in a lightweight bout, has won his last two fights. Incidentally, the American topped Dober on UFC Fight Night 146 in Kansas in March this year, with Dariush winning via submission (arm bar) at the 4:41 mark of Round 2. The 30-year-old’s other victory was against Brazil’s Tiago Moises via unanimous decision during the UFC Fight night 139 in Colorado late last year.
Camacho’s opponent once held a five-game winning streak in UFC and also prevailed in his first seven fights, including his debut in UFC in January 2014 where he defeated Charlie Brenneman of Pennsylvania via submission (rear-naked choke) in UFC Fight Night 35.
