‘Crank’ TKOs German foe

Frank “The Crank” Camacho, third left, joins his Team Oyama for a group photo after beating Germany’s Nick “Sergeant” Hein in their lightweight bout in UFC Fight Night 153 yesterday in Stockholm, Sweden. (Contributed Photo)

A calm and collected Frank “The Crank” Camacho returned to the octagon cage after back-to-back losses and hammered Germany’s Nick “Sergeant” Hein with a flurry of punches to earn an impressive TKO victory in their lightweight bout in UFC Fight Night 153 yesterday in Stockholm, Sweden.

Referee Leon Roberts called the stoppage at the 4:56 mark of the five-minute second round, as he had seen enough with a wobbling Hein trying to cover his face to avoid more punishment from Camacho’s fists. The Marianas warrior set up the stoppage after he hit Hein on the head using his knee. The German retreated to the corner and that gave Camacho the opportunity to attack more and unload a series of killer punches, forcing Roberts to pull the plug on Hein with just four minutes left in Round 2.

The German, who absorbed his third straight loss, sustained bumps on the lower part of both his eyes with blood flowing from his nose and from a small cut on the tip of his nose, after engaging Camacho in a standup fight.

The 30-year-old Camacho also had a bump on his lower left eye in the first round after getting caught by Hein’s cross and that nearly threw him off their game plan.

“I saw red and I was like I should crank it up and go after him. However, my corner kept reminding me to calm down because we still have time and we need to implement our game plan,” Camacho said during a post interview from MMAfighting.com.

The Saipan-raised fighter then patiently worked on throwing multiple shots on Hein, connecting on his right kick, combinations, and several body and headshots. With Camacho bringing the fight to his German opponent, the latter tried to pin the former down to the canvas. However, after hitting the sides, Camacho wisely got out of trouble and resumed with his team’s game plan of wearing down Hein first with different shots and waiting for the right opening to attack further.

By the end of the first round, the fight commentators at the UFC website had Camacho connecting 57 strikes against only 35 from Hein.

In the second round, Camacho continued to be the aggressor, but he was still careful not to overdo it to the point of exhausting himself. Hein, on the other hand, started to gas out, as he kept on taking in Camacho’s strikes with both sides of his rib turning red. The German also failed to counter and became defensive, allowing Camacho to chase him and went for the kill.

With the victory, Camacho improved his overall record to 22-7 and 2-4 in UFC. The Team Oyama standout, who lost to Geoff Neal and Drew Dober last year, also won his first bout of the season after dropping to the lightweight class (155 lbs) from the welterweight division (170 lbs).