{"id":254007,"date":"2017-06-08T06:06:04","date_gmt":"2017-06-07T20:06:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=254007"},"modified":"2017-06-08T06:06:04","modified_gmt":"2017-06-07T20:06:04","slug":"ufc-appearance-dream-come-true-crank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/ufc-appearance-dream-come-true-crank\/","title":{"rendered":"UFC appearance dream come true for \u2018The Crank\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
Frank \u201cThe Crank\u201d Camacho, left, subdues Extreme Combat Korea\u2019s Gun Han Park, prompting referee Cuki Alvarez to stop the main event fight in Rites of Passage 21: Throwdown held last month at the Marianas Business Plaza. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dreams really do come true.<\/p>\n

Setting his eyes on the Ultimate Fighting Championship since his first fight at the octagon cage more than a decade ago, Frank \u201cThe Crank\u201d Camacho\u2019s time to set foot on MMA\u2019s biggest stage has come, as he will be featured in one of the 12 bouts in UFC Fight Night Singapore on June 17.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been chasing the dream for 13 years. I\u2019ve had so many ups and downs. So many people are telling me to change my career and do something else, people doubting the career path I\u2019ve chosen, but I also have so many supporters\u2014my family, friends, fans, coaches, and teammates. Having the opportunity to finally fight in the UFC leaves me speechless. It\u2019s an opportunity of a lifetime,\u201d said Camacho.<\/p>\n

The Marianas pride will be pitted against UFC veteran Jingliang \u201cThe Leech\u201d Li in a welterweight match at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old China Top Team standout has been seeing action in UFC since 2014 and holds a 4-2 record in MMA\u2019s biggest promotion in the world with his last two wins coming by way of knockouts. The 6\u20190 Li earned a TKO victory (punches) over Bobby Nash at the 4:45 mark of Round 2 of their bout in UFC on Fox 23 held in January this year. Then on UFC-The Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale last July 8, 2016, the Chinese had a similar TKO win by punches versus Anton Zafir, just 2:46 into the opening round.<\/p>\n

Li\u2019s other triumphs in UFC were recorded against Dhiego Lima in 2015 (KO punches) and David Michaud in 2014 (split decision), while his losses were at the hands of Keita Nakamura (rear-naked choke) and Nordine Taleb (split decision). Overall, \u201cThe Leech\u201d holds a 12-4 win-loss record since his MMA debut in 2007.<\/p>\n

Aware of his foe\u2019s reputation, Camacho said his camp is working on a fight plan against Li.<\/p>\n

\u201cJingliang like everyone else has weakness (just like myself). My coaches and I are still coming up with a plan, but at the end of the day, he is an experienced athlete from China Top Team and once the leather starts flying, it\u2019s a fight,\u201d said the 28-year-old Camacho.<\/p>\n

Camacho will be putting his 20-4 record on the line when he duels Li. Like his Chinese opponent, Camacho has also won his last two MMA fights, beating Korean Hyun Joo Kim (TKO\/punches) in Rites of Passage 20: Conquer in August 2016 and Gun Hwan Park (arm triangle choke) in ROP 21: Throwdown last month.<\/p>\n

The Trench Tech bet expects a dogfight against Li and he is counting on the \u201cMarianas Fighting Spirit\u201d to survive his UFC debut.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone in the UFC is tough, fast, strong, and technical. The one edge I definitely have over him for sure is the \u2018Marianas Fighting Spirit.\u2019 I know it sounds so weird when I say that, but people from the Marianas know exactly what I\u2019m talking about. It\u2019s the will to keep pushing forward when others are not willing to, the drive to work hard every day to reach goals, and the spirit of fighting hard and never giving up,\u201d said Camacho, who thanked all the people who helped him reach his goal. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be selfish of me to say I made it into the UFC. We made it to the UFC Marianas. You were all with me every single step of the way. For that, I thank each and every one of you for the encouragement, support, and even to the littlest random handshake at the store. Thank you all.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dreams really do come true. Setting his eyes on the Ultimate Fighting Championship since his…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":254018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2325,67,8285,3378],"class_list":["post-254007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-mma","tag-people","tag-tko","tag-ufc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254007","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\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}