‘The Crank’ wants to break into Asia fight scene

Frank “The Crank” Camacho, left, trains at a local gym in Guam before his fight against Tyrone “Bones” Jones. Camacho will be moving up to his original weight of 170 lbs or as a welterweight for his first fight in 2016. (Facebook)

Frank “The Crank” Camacho is aiming to bring his skills in Asia where he plans to test the waters of other mixed martial arts events either in Japan, Korea, or any other promotional fight in Asia.

Camacho is fresh from a second-round technical knockout win over Tyrone “Bones” Jones in last Friday night’s Pacific Xtreme Combat 50 at the University of Guam Fieldhouse. He and his opponent were fighting for the vacant PXC lightweight belt.

However, Camacho was disqualified even before the opening bell rang in his five-round bout against Jones. He was 3.9 lbs over the 155 lb weight limit to become ineligible to win the vacant title.

“It was a great win for me against a tough opponent. It is a bittersweet [win]. But the result is needed for the future of my career. I’m still learning as a competitor, martial artist, and an athlete,” said Camacho in an email to the Saipan Tribune.

“The entire process of this fight was a great life learning experience. The weigh-in was a rough weight cut for me. I truly learned more about myself with the adversity I had to overcome being so weak to fighting a five-minute round against Tyrone,” he added.

“It was a great learning experience and it put a lot of things into perspective in relation to the longevity of my career and my health. Especially, with me about to become a daddy.”

He told the Saipan Tribune that his match against Jones was his last under PXC since his contract also expired making him a free agent as a fighter at the moment. Now, he is looking to fight in other parts of Asia.

“I don’t have a scheduled fight just yet. I left the last fight injury free. I will stay ready and ready to fight at any time. In my mind I would like to fight around March and get international fights,” said Camacho.

“I would like to look into promotions [either] in Japan, Korea [or in] Asia. If PXC has anything lined up they will definitely run it by me,” he added.

One Fighting Championship in Singapore, Universal Reality Combat Championship in the Philippines, Road FC in Korea, Super Fight League in India, and Dare in Thailand are some of the mixed martial arts promotional fights in Asia.

Japan has three top MMA events—Dream, Deep, and Shooto. Though Shooto is based in Japan it has also held fights in Hawaii, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, and Tennessee in the United States, and Vancouver and British Columbia in Canada. China, Malaysia, and Taiwan also have their own MMA promotional events.

Hong Kong has Legend Fighting Championship, which also hold fights in Macau. In 2012, Legend FC signed an exclusive syndication agreement with ESPN International, which will serve as the sole distributor in broadcasting all of its content in Asia, Oceania, the Indian sub-continent, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

If Camacho gets the chance to fight in another MMA promotion or even the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which is his goal, he would do it in his original weight class of 170 lbs or welterweight.

“The plan is still the same. UFC! I’m riding on a three-fight win streak, which will hopefully put me in the light to make it to the bigger show. In the meantime I’ll continue to get as much fights as I can, stay active and busy, and keep working toward my goals. I’ll be moving up a weight class —my original weight class—of welterweight 170 lbs.”

Camacho said he would take some time off, relax, and spend the holidays with his family after having fought four times this year.