‘The Crank’ aims for more wins to reach UFC

After his recent triumph in PXC 49, Frank “The Crank” Camacho is eyeing more wins that would move him closer to landing a spot in the Ultimate Fighting Championships in Korea later this year.

Frank “The Crank” Camacho reacts as referee Donny Elvina steps in to stop the former’s fight against the downed Kengo Ura of Japan during a lightweight bout in last Friday’s PXC 49 at the University of Guam Fieldhouse. (Pacific Xtreme Combat)

Camacho scored a first round knockout victory against Japan’s Kengo Ura last Friday in Guam for his second straight knockout win this year. He earlier defeated Yasuaki Miura in the same fashion in Rites of Passage 18: Warpath last month for a fitting comeback from his loss (submission by rear-naked choke in the first round) to Yusuke Kasuya in PXC 47 last March 13.

“That 40-second knockout victory in the first round against Ura will definitely boost my chances to get closer to my dream of representing the CNMI in UFC. I am back on training and will work on getting more fights and more wins so hopefully I can get an opportunity to make it to the undercard bout in UFC Korea,” Camacho said in a phone interview with Saipan Tribune last Tuesday.

UFC Korea will be held on Nov. 28 at the Olympic Park Gymnastics Arena in Seoul. It will be UFC’s fifth stop in Asia since the biggest MMA event in the world had been to Macao, Philippines, Singapore, and Tokyo in the past years.

UFC gives slots to fighters in its events based on rankings and records. In an earlier interview with Saipan Tribune, Camacho, after beating Miura, said he was ranked second (contender) in welterweight and third in lightweight.

As for his record, the 26-year-old Marianas pride improved to 17-3, 13 of those wins were via knockouts. Since seeing action in the octagon cage in 2005, Camacho has won his first 10 bouts. His first 10 wins were recorded in Saipan’s Trench Wars (6) and Rites of Passage (1), Guam’s Geran Haga (1), PXC (1), and Universal Reality Combat Championships (1).

Camacho’s streak ended on July 12, 2007, when he lost to Luigi Fioravanti in PXC 12. He then went 2-1 in his next three bouts (won over Ryan Bigler in PXC 13 in November 2007; fell to Caloy Baduria in URCC 11 the same month; and prevailed against James Jones in UWC 6 in 2009) before going on a sabbatical for nearly four years.

The Guam-born, but Saipan-raised Camacho climbed back to the eight sides on Aug. 9, 2013, via PXC 38 and announced his return with a third round knockout win against Koshi Matsumoto. Camacho also won his next two fights in 2014 (versus Keita Nakamura and Jae Woong Kim) before bowing to Kasuya early this year.

“Despite of my two straight wins after I lost to Kasuya, there’s no room to relax. I will continue to train hard to get ready for more tough fights this year,” Camacho said.