{"id":265565,"date":"2017-12-01T06:00:58","date_gmt":"2017-11-30T20:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=265565"},"modified":"2017-12-01T06:00:58","modified_gmt":"2017-11-30T20:00:58","slug":"crank-learns-lesson-second-ufc-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/crank-learns-lesson-second-ufc-fight\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Crank\u2019 learns lesson in second UFC fight"},"content":{"rendered":"
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Frank \u201cThe Crank\u201d Camacho signs posters of Ultimate Fighting Championship 121: Werdum VS Tybura in a pre-fight event in Sydney, Australia last month. He fought Australian Damien \u201cBeatdown\u201d Brown and won by split decision. (Contributed Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Frank \u201cThe Crank\u201d Camacho is still learning despite being a professional mixed martial arts fighter for more than 10 years. His last fight against Australian Damien \u201cBeatdown\u201d Brown was no exception.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old Marianas bet still missed weight in his lightweight (155 lbs) bout by a mere 4 lbs even though Ultimate Fighting Championship organizers gave a 1-pound allowance to all fighters. Camacho weighed in at 160 lbs, making him ineligible for the $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus when he defeated Brown via split decision in UFC 121: Werdrum VS Tybura more than a week ago at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a clause in the contract that if you missed the weight, you are not eligible for the bonus. It is what it is and it is a price that I have to pay. It is a huge lesson that I learned. I wasn\u2019t really accounting for it, but $50,000 would have been a big help for me and my family. That could have helped us big time,\u201d said Camacho.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened was I cut water too early. Then the day before the weigh-in, I was trying to sweat to lose the 4 lbs, but the problem is I wasn\u2019t sweating anymore. I was working my butt off for almost two hours,\u201d said Camacho.<\/p>\n

His situation was a cause of concern for members of Team \u201cCrank\u201d led by Cuki Alvarez, Steve Roberto, and Melchor Manibusan. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey were concerned. I was in a really bad shape during the weigh-in that I was so close of not being able to fight,\u201d Camacho said. \u201cI was wearing the sauna suit, running outside, and doing everything but not even a single sweat. Like I was so drained and so sucked out that they thought I was already done for. It was bad on my part because I cut water too early so I don\u2019t have any more water to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lesson learned, Camacho said he plans to stay between 170 and 175 lbs when he is not fighting. The 170- to 175-lb target would make it easier for him to shed the extra pounds before he again climbs the octagon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m more comfortable fighting at 155. I got to eat what I want, but I need to eat healthy. I need to maintain 170 to 175 lbs. The experience in this fight [against Brown] is what I needed for the future of my [MMA] career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Camacho said his weight problems could be tied with the idyllic island lifestyle. \u201cI\u2019m just a big boy, a local boy. The food here is always good and I just need to be disciplined in what I eat. It sucks that it is only now that I\u2019m just trying to realize this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, I need to eat like an athlete. This is now my career, my job. I just need to eat like a pro. I didn\u2019t eat properly the whole week before the fight. I was just eating nuts, almonds, and that\u2019s it. Sometimes a little bit of chicken or fish. Imagine if I eat better and if I eat good. I would always be ready and in fighting weight before I fight,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Frank \u201cThe Crank\u201d Camacho is still learning despite being a professional mixed martial arts fighter…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":265571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[19282,765,19283,1730],"class_list":["post-265565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-steve-roberto","tag-sydney","tag-team-crank","tag-ultimate-fighting-championship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265565","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\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}