Having yet to establish any modicum of consistency in nearly five
years on the
Ultimate Fighting Championship roster, Frank
Camacho finds himself in a tenuous position.
The well-traveled 32-year-old will chase his first win since 2019
when he confronts
Dana White’s Contender Series graduate Manuel Manuel
Roberto Torres in a
UFC on ESPN 36 lightweight feature this Saturday at the UFC
Apex in Las Vegas. Camacho enters the cage on the heels of
back-to-back losses. He last appeared at UFC on ESPN 11, where he
succumbed to punches from Justin
Jaynes just 41 seconds into their June 20, 2020 pairing.
As Camacho prepares for his return to the Octagon, here are five
things you might not know about him:
1. He covered great distance to get here.
Camacho was born on May 18, 1989 in Hagatna, Guam, and was raised
in Saipan, the largest of the Northern Mariana Islands—some 6,000
miles away from Ultimate Fighting Championship headquarters in Las
Vegas.
2. His reality check was marked by misfortune.
“The Crank” appeared on Season 16 of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality
series in 2012, only to draw Neil Magny in
the elimination round. Magny sent him packing with a unanimous
decision, eventually reached the semifinals and became one of the
most successful welterweights in UFC history.
3. A regional title highlights his resume.
Camacho laid claim to the Pacific Xtreme Combat lightweight
championship when he put away Tyrone
Jones with punches in the second round of their PXC 50 main
event on Dec. 4, 2015. After a subsequent loss to Han Seul
Kim and two appearances in the Trench Warz organization, he
signed with the UFC.
4. Scales have not been friendly to him.
The former PXC champion has compiled 2-5 record inside the Octagon
and missed weight in two of his seven appearances. Camacho tipped
the scales four pounds over the lightweight limit ahead of his
split decision victory over Damien
Brown at UFC Fight Night 121—it cost him a $50,000 bonus for
“Fight of the Night”—and checked in three pounds overweight in
advance of his aforementioned loss to Jaynes.
5. He chose associates with proven track records.
Camacho operates out of
Team Oyama, where he trains under Colin Oyama and works
alongside a number of accomplished teammates, two-time UFC women’s
strawweight champion Carla
Esparza, former Tachi Palace Fights flyweight titleholder
Alex
Perez and “The Ultimate Fighter Latin America” quarterfinalist
Marlon
Vera among them.
