‘The Crank’ eyes successful night in Vegas

In this June 1, 2019 file photo, Frank “The Crank” Camacho, left, punishes Germany’s Nick “Sergeant” Hein with his knee leading to a TKO victory in UFC Fight Night 153 in Stockhom, Sweden. (Ultimate Fighting Championship)

Frank “The Crank” Camacho hit Germany’s Nick “Sergeant” Hein on the head with his knee and followed it up with a flurry of killer punches en route to a TKO victory in UFC Fight Night 153 in Stockhom, Sweden.

This winning moment for Camacho came a little over a year ago (June 1, 2019 to be exact) and when photos of one of his most impressive triumphs appeared on his social media feed last Monday, the Marianas warriors felt an added boost in his bid to duplicate that feat.

“I’m not big on superstition, but seeing photos pop up on my feed from exactly a year ago, it’s kinda cool. It brought me back to a successful night in the octagon. Looking forward to another one on June 20. I definitely gotta go in there and earn that win,” said Camacho, who is now in Las Vegas getting ready for his first fight of the season.

Frank “The Crank” Camacho, right, trains, with Team Oyama’s Colin Oyama early this year in California. (Contributed Photo)

The 31-year-old will be battling Matt “The Steamrolla” Frevola at UFC Fight Night 173 at UFC Apex and the lightweight duel is one of the seven supporting bouts to the showdown between Illinois’ Curtis Blaydes and Russia’s Alexander Volkov.

The Guam-born and Saipan-raised Camacho traveled from California to Nevada late last week with a small group of fighters from Team Oyama of legendary MMA coach Colin Oyama, giving him a little over two weeks to prepare for his collision with Frevola.

“Training is going well. We are sticking to our small group of guys. We have two guys fighting before me so it helps a lot. Alex Perez this weekend and Mark Dela Rosa the next, and then me,” Camacho said.

Perez will see action in UFC 250 on June 6 against Jussier Formiga, while Dela Rosa is on the UFC Fight Night 172 event for June 13 and is paired against Jordan Espinosa.

Frank “The Crank” Camacho, right, poses with fellow Team Oyama fighter Alex Perez during a break in their training session in Las Vegas. (Contributed Photo)

The Camacho-Frevola duel is the third supporting bout scheduled for UFC Fight Night 173 and the former is looking to get back to his winning ways after dropping his last match (to Beneil Dariush) in UFC Fight Night 162 in October 2019. Camacho holds a 2-4 record in UFC and 22-8 overall, while Frevola owns an 8-1-1 win-draw-loss mark and won his last two UFC bouts.

Camacho acknowledged Frevola’s ability to last long fights, so the Marianas pride is also working on his stamina as he trains in the final two weeks of their battle.

“We will be fine-tuning the game plan on the defensive and offense side. It’s going great. Also, I am working hard blasting the lungs and cardio,” Camacho said.