‘The Crank’ faces new foe

Marianas warrior Frank “The Crank” Camacho still made it to the lineup of the UFC Fight Night 173 and will take on a new opponent in Matt “The Steamrolla” Frevola next month.

Camacho was originally set to have his first bout of the season on April 25 against Brazil’s Alan Patrick “Nuguette” Silva Alves at the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska, but the duel was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. A new set of fight card for Fight Night 173 has been released and the Camacho-Frevola pairing will be among the seven supporting bouts to the main event collision between Illinois’ Curtis Blaydes and Russia’s Alexander Volkov on June 20 at UFC Apex, Las Vegas, Nevada.

“Blessed for the opportunity to get back in there against a tough and exciting opponent,” Camacho said on his social media post as he made the announcement of his lightweight fight.

The 31-year-old Camacho will be facing a foe that has lesser a number of octagon appearances than him, as Frevola has only saw action on the eight sides 10 times. However, out of those 10 assignments, the New York native won eight—four via decisions, three off submissions, and one by TKO.

Frevola prevailed in his last two fights—all via decisions—as he topped Luis Pena (split) at UFC Fight Night 161 in October last year and Jalin Turner (unanimous) in UFC 236 in April of the same year.

In this November 2017 file photo, Frank “The Crank” Camacho hits Damien Brown during the first round of their bout in UFC Fight Night 121 in Sydney, Australia. (Contributed Photo)

The Serra-Longo Fight Team standout had his UFC debut in Fight Night 124 in January 2018 and lost to Marco Polo Reyes, who knocked out the former (punches) at the one-minute mark of the first round. Ten months after his sorry debut, Frevola challenged Lando Vannata in UFC 230 and settled for a draw. Before his 2018 fights, Frevola swept all his six assignments, highlighting the streak with a TKO win (2:46 of Round 1) over Mike D’ Angelo at Real Fighting Championship in November 2015.

Camacho’s TKO victory was more recent, as he hammered Nick Hein (4:56 of Round 2) in Fight Night 152 in June 2019 before losing his latest fight—against Beneil Darius (submission, rear-naked chocked at 2:02 of Round 1)—in October last year.

Overall, Camacho holds a 2-4 win-loss record in UFC and a career 22-8 mark.

Frevola, in his social media post, expressed his excitement on battling Camacho.

“I’m throwing down with the tough island warrior Frank Camacho in Vegas. Time to do what we do, this will be a fun one for sure, let’s get it,” he said.

Camacho’s showdown against Frevola is the first of his new four-fight deal with one of the biggest MMA promotion companies in the world.