{"id":187760,"date":"2014-12-19T04:00:49","date_gmt":"2014-12-18T18:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=187760"},"modified":"2014-12-19T04:00:49","modified_gmt":"2014-12-18T18:00:49","slug":"crank-eyes-ufc-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/crank-eyes-ufc-fight\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Crank\u2019 eyes UFC fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Frank<\/a>
Frank \u201cThe Crank\u201d Camacho delivers a punch on the side of South Korean challenger Jae Woong Kim during their non-title bout in last week\u2019s Trench Warz 18: Rock & Rumble at the Royal Taga Hall of the Saipan World Resort. (Jon Perez)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nCompeting in the Ultimate Fighting Championship is the main goal of Frank \u201cThe Crank\u201d Camacho when he resumes training after the holidays and prepares for a Pacific Xtreme Combat event early next year.<\/p>\n

Camacho, who will be returning to Guam on Dec. 20, said it has been his dream to someday fight in the UFC since he started in mixed martial arts at the then Trench Tech gym\u2019s first location in Beach Road more than five years ago.<\/p>\n

The UFC, which is based in the United States, is the biggest MMA promotion company in the world and features the best and top-ranked fighters in the sport. Dana White is UFC\u2019s president and the company has already organized more than 250 fights since the first event was held on Nov. 12, 1993 in Denver, Colorado.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat has been my goal. Fight in the UFC and represent the people of the Marianas,\u201d said Camacho, who last week made a winning return to his MMA roots when he forced South Korean Jae Woong Kim to submission via arm triangle choke in the first round of their non-title bout in Trench Warz 18: Rock & Rumble at the packed Royal Taga Hall of the Saipan World Resort.<\/p>\n

Camacho came out victorious in his return fight in Trench Warz despite receiving only a six-week notice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I planned to end the fight against Kim right away. Kim\u2019s a very strong wrestler and an explosive fighter that\u2019s why I tried to slow him down by delivering punches on the right side of his body and ribcage,\u201d the MMA fighter said.<\/p>\n

Camacho, who is now based in Guam , added his UFC dream would all depend on the chances that will be given to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hinged on different opportunities that will be presented to me. Just last month, I came home from San Diego where I trained there for six months,\u201d said the 25-year-old fighter, who was born in Guam and raised on Saipan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need to stay healthy this time after I hurt my back in June. I\u2019m happy with all the help that I get from my team and Trench Tech\u2014they get me back into fighting shape. A lot of people helped me with my rehab and I\u2019ve been doing the right exercises to strengthen my back,\u201d said Camacho.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need to stay active since there\u2019s a PXC event in March. And I\u2019m ready to fight again,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

With a lot of young and rising fighters looking up to him, Camacho urged them to work harder in everything they do.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey should find the best gym. Stay healthy and discipline, keep a positive attitude, and work harder. Everything will fall into place if you really put your mind into it,\u201d Camacho ended. (Jon Perez)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Competing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship is the main goal of Frank \u201cThe Crank\u201d Camacho…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":187768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[51,67,349,305],"class_list":["post-187760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-guam","tag-people","tag-saipan-world-resort","tag-san-diego"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}