Preview: UFC on ESPN 36 ‘Blachowicz vs. Rakic’

Lightweights

Manuel Roberto Torres (12-2, 0-0 UFC) vs. Frank Camacho (22-9, 2-5 UFC)

ODDS: Torres (-130), Camacho (+110)

Camacho’s UFC record leaves something to be desired, but perhaps the promotion will find a way to keep him around given that he is one of the most consistently entertaining fighters on the roster. The lone representative of the Northern Mariana Islands in the UFC, “Frank The Crank” is well-schooled technically but makes his hay as a born brawler whose fights usually provide violence one way or another. Camacho is not a high-level athlete, and some flaws in his game mean that he has to walk a tightrope to find his way to victory. Camacho starts off cold, leaving him open to getting finished in the opening minutes of his fights, and at a certain point, he does obviously start to tire after a few rounds of all-out action. Camacho showed a career-best form against Nick Hein in 2019, but it has been a rough three years since. He got beaten early by Beneil Dariush and Justin Jaynes, the latter in a late-notice upset, and a car accident has kept him out of action since a booking in June 2021. However, Camacho is finally back in the cage and should go to war against a Mexican newcomer in Torres. A look at Torres’ record shows a fighter who would rather be done with things in short order, win or lose, and he looked sharp in his contract-earning win over Kolton Englund on Dana White’s Contender Series in October. “El Loco” had a more patient approach than usual to start but did look to be on his way to being dragged into a brawl before he scored another early finish. If this goes into deeper waters, no one can say how it will go—outside of the certainty that it will be entertaining—but Torres does seem to have the precision and power to become the latest man to catch Camacho before he can get some momentum going. The pick is Torres via first-round knockout.

Blachowicz vs. Rakic
Cutelaba vs. Spann
Grant vs. Smolka
Chookagian vs. Ribas
Camacho vs. Torres
Hadley vs. Nascimento
The Prelims