In the second bout of his pro MMA career, Frank Camacho ended up fighting his uncle. That wasn’t the plan going in, Camacho said, but sometimes growing up on the Mariana Islands, you made do with what you had.
It was 2006 and still the early days of the burgeoning MMA scene on the remote archipelago of 15 islands in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean. The 17-year-old Camacho was set to fight in the Trench Warz organization on Saipan, part of the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and the westernmost territory of the noncontiguous United States.
Advertisement
The only problem was, the event was devolving into chaos. The boxing ring that promoters had rented never materialized, and several of the athletes booked to compete pulled out at the last minute. That included the opponents of both Camacho and his uncle Mike. So, they improvised.
“We were at the weigh-ins. and he was kind of like, ‘Aye boy, do you want to fight?’” Camacho said. “I was like, ‘Sure, Uncle Mike. I mean, yeah, if that’s OK.’ He said, ‘Just don’t hold back, all right?’ and I was like, ‘Uh, OK. You too.’”
Not an ideal situation, but it actually didn’t feel all that weird, Camacho said. Those early Trench Warz events featured mostly fighters who trained together at Saipan’s Trench Tech Gym. There were already a lot of teammate vs. teammate fights on the card.
Promoters saved the day by building a narrow, rectangular cage out of galvanized chain link and putting some simple blue grappling mats down inside it. “We called it the rectagon,” Camacho said. Once they got in there, he was good to his promise not to go easy. He defeated his uncle via TKO just 76 seconds into the first round after a barrage of knees from the clinch.
“I had just watched this Wanderlei Silva highlight,” Camacho said. “I remember, I had dial-up (internet) at the time, so I had to leave my computer on overnight to download it. I watched it, and I was like, ‘OK, I’m just going to go in and fire knees.’ … At first it was a little awkward at family gatherings, but we’re all good now.”
When it comes to fighting, Camacho (22-7) is better than good. Now 31, he’ll be trying to even his UFC record at 3-3 on Saturday, when he takes on fellow lightweight Beneil Dariush (16-4-1) at UFC on ESPN+ 20. The event, headlined by Ben Askren vs. Demian Maia, takes place at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore.
Advertisement
If Uncle Mike had known how far his nephew was going to take his fight career, he might have thought twice about stepping into the rectagon with him all those years ago. Then again, he might not have. Hard to know when you’re talking about the Marianas, which has been a proud but low-key MMA hotbed since the late 1990s.
The list of fighters from the tiny islands — which includes both Saipan and the separate U.S. territory of Guam — features a handful of recognizable names, including Camacho, Jon Tuck and Joe Duarte. Slightly lower-profile fighters from the Marianas who have also graduated to the big leagues in recent years include Jon Delos Reyes (UFC), Joe Taimanglo (Bellator), Roque Martinez (Rizin FF), Brogan Walker-Sanchez (Invicta FC) and Tessa Simpson (Invicta FC).
Search MMA sites such as Tapology.com for fighters from Guam, and the CNMI and both regions generate impressive lists. Longtime MMA executive Rich Chou, currently Bellator’s vice president of talent relations, also hails from Guam. Then there is longtime MMA fighter J.J. Ambrose, who is a California native but has trained and fought out of Guam for years.
Not too bad for an area with a total population of around 200,000.
How did it happen? Fighters from Guam and the CNMI said there were two important factors: culture and geography.
Despite being roughly 1,800 miles from the nearest mainland, the Marianas occupy pretty much the perfect real estate to accrue martial arts knowledge.
The islands sit in a broad triangle roughly between Japan (1,400 miles to the north), the Philippines (1,400 miles to the west) and Hawaii (3,900 miles to the east). Those distances may be far, but direct flights from major population centers like Manila and Tokyo made Guam and Saipan into popular tourist destinations.
As former UFC fighter and current Bellator signee Tuck put it: “We’re basically the Hawaii of Asia.”
Advertisement
That meant that as Japanese MMA organizations such as Pancrase, Shooto and Pride Fighting Championship were finding their legs during the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Marianas were a handy place where big-name fighters could go to blow off steam. Factor in the cultural history of the islands’ indigenous Chamorro people — who had been fighting for freedom and identity since the Spanish colonial era beginning in the 16th century — and you had a local population eager to learn from the best.
“Everyone loves the weather,” Camacho said. “It’s like 85 degrees all year round. It’s paradise, you know? So, it was like the perfect vacation to train. That’s what we had to offer: We had the hospitality, we had the beautiful island, the nice beaches, and we were able to get high-level fighters to come in and train. The fighting was just in our blood.”
In 1997 the Hawaii-based Icon Sport promotion began brining live “SuperBrawl” MMA events to Guam. Between 1997-2000, Icon Sport visited the island five times, drawing big crowds to see pioneering stars such as Dan Severn, Lance Gibson, Travis Fulton, Wesley “Cabbage” Correira and homegrown talents such as heavyweight John Calvo.
Once the Marianas got a taste of MMA, a smattering of gyms started to spring up. Those, in turn, begot a handful of local fight promotions, including Fury Fighting Islands, Pacific X-Treme Combat (PXC) and Trench Warz. In 2006 former Shooto heavyweight champion and UFC and Pride veteran Enson Inoue opened his Purebred BJJ Guam gym, which only solidified the island’s relationship with the top fighters competing in Japan.
“Martial arts has a long history here,” said Roman Della Cruz, founder of the extreme sports brand Fokai Industries and former Fury Fighting Islands promoter. “Even though we weren’t widely exposed to them until the 20th century … our small population and intimate community was (able) to spread the excitement of seeing those effective martial arts even faster (than if we had a larger population).”
Camacho said Pride stars such as Kazushi Sakuraba, Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto and Shooto fighter Tetsuji Kato would come to stay and train in the Marianas for weeks or months at a time. Kato especially developed roots in Saipan and ultimately forged a bond with the Trench Tech gym and became a mentor for guys such as Camacho as well as current Trench Tech president and Trench Warz promoter Cuki Alvarez.
Soon, the dye was cast. The Marianas fighting community grew into a small, but hard-nosed force in the MMA world. The PXC promotion became a popular stop for up-and-coming future stars such as Roy Nelson, Louis Smolka and Alexander Volkanovski, among others.
Advertisement
In the end, Camacho said, the modern fight scene in the Marianas isn’t all that different from the ones found in other fight-crazed places like Hawaii or Ireland.
Although, occasionally, maybe you have to fight your uncle.
“MMA’s probably one of the biggest sports in our small area,” Camacho said. “I mean, my grandma knows fighters. It’s just that island community, right?”
As a kid, Tuck said he tried to play peacemaker.
Growing up on Guam during the late 1990s and early 2000s, he said fighting was a way of life. Whether out of sheer boredom, legitimate beefs or just to determine which of the island’s near two dozen high schools was the fiercest, kids would get together and scrap. Fights would be set up around Tuck’s village in Chalan Pago-Ordot, at the beach or even in the nearby jungles. Word would get around and often a good crowd would show up to watch. Eventually, it felt like there was an entire underground fight circuit operating on the island.
“Back in the ancestral days, the toughest guy was basically going to be the head chief,” Tuck said. “But growing up here in the modern days, everybody still wanted to see who the toughest guy was. Basically, prospects who were the baddest guys out of each school would have fights to find out which were the top fighters. They’d basically be the rulers of the school. Then the top guys would fight guys from other schools.”
Tuck was always a good athlete with an interest in the martial arts but was known as an easygoing kid who preferred joking around over fighting. Early on he was also stricken with terrible allergy-related asthma, so his parents forbid him from training at any of the local dojos. Still, Tuck said he was a light-skinned guy of mixed racial heritage — part Chamorro, part Native American, part Irish — and that made him a target for bullies. Whether he wanted to or not, he leaned how to defend himself at an early age.
Advertisement
By the time he was 18 and out of his parents’ house, Tuck started tagging along with an older cousin to the island’s Ground Fu Brazilian jiu-jitsu gym. There, Tuck trained under Shooto and Vale Tudo Japan fighter Jesse Taitano, a pioneer in the men’s flyweight division. Soon, it turned out Tuck had a knack for BJJ, and he earned his black belt and won gold in the open lightweight division in Abu Dhabi in 2010. At the same time, he finally located a medication that would keep his asthma at bay, setting the stage for a professional athletic career.
Tuck said the early days of the MMA scene in the Marianas were clique-ish and fractured, where fight teams acted as warring street gangs. Local fight promotions took advantage of that animosity, Tuck said, giving the islands’ toughs an outlet to work out beefs in sanctioned fights. They drew big crowds, though sometimes the action that started in the cage didn’t stay that way.
“When I first started training … it was very hostile,” Tuck said. “It was wild. You know, sometimes riots would break out because someone lost and feelings got hurt. I wasn’t really into the gang violence or anything like that. I just had a passion for training in mixed martial arts.”
Tuck said he wanted something bigger for himself than local stardom. After going 6-0 on the indy scene, he jumped at the chance to appear on Season 15 of “The Ultimate Fighter” in 2012. He lost to Al Iaquinta (and broke his toe) during his only “TUF” fight but scored an invite to compete in the UFC anyway.
In November of that year, Tuck became the first fighter from Guam to fight in the UFC octagon. He defeated Tiequan Zhang in his official UFC debut at an event in Macao. Tuck estimated that around 500 fans from the Marianas made the trip to watch him fight.
Jon Tuck became the first mixed martial artist from Guam to fight — and win — in the UFC when he defeated Tiequan Zhang via unanimous decision in 2012. (Josh Hedges / Zuffa)
“Me getting into the UFC was definitely a huge accomplishment,” Tuck said. “At the time, people would overlook Guam because of how small it was and the type of fighters that came (from here). People just didn’t have confidence in fighters from Guam. They didn’t respect us like that, didn’t think we were ready for that level. So, I was always about putting Guam on the map.”
Tuck put up a 4-5 record over the next six years in the UFC but was released from the organization after a loss to Drew Dober in August 2018. Last month he signed a new deal with Bellator but had his first scheduled appearance scratched when his opponent pulled out with an injury.
Advertisement
Tuck (10-5) said Bellator officials have told him they’re holding a spot for him on the promotion’s scheduled Dec. 29 event in Japan. They just need to find him an opponent.
If it happens, Tuck said he’s hoping for another big turnout from the Marianas faithful.
“A lot of people from Guam, Mariana Islands, from the Philippines and this region who follow my career, they’ll fly out,” Tuck said. “Easily, like 500 to 1,000 people will fly out from this side of Earth to go watch my fight. Not that the event won’t sell out on its own, you know, but I think it’s beneficial for them to put me on that card.”
Camacho said Saipan is still reeling from a typhoon that hit the island in 2018 but that the Marianas MMA scene is still going strong. Trench Warz continues to put on events, including its amateur Rites of Passage series. There may be more MMA and BJJ schools on the islands now than ever before, including Trench Tech, Purebred BJJ and a Carlson Gracie academy in Guam.
Camacho himself is preparing for Dariush in California, where he recently connected with longtime MMA coach Colin Oyama. In his most recent fights, Camacho said he’s been working hard to get away from the brawl-first fighter who earned the nickname “The Crank” while fighting at home. It sounds as though he wants to be more of a complete mixed martial artist and less the guy who blitzed his uncle with Wanderlei-inspired knees a dozen years ago.
Against Dariush at Saturday’s event in Singapore, Camacho hopes to repeat the sort of performance he had during a second-round TKO victory over Nick Hein in June.
“I had a very good performance against Nick Hein,” said Camacho, whose bout has third billing on this weekend’s card. “The old ‘Crank’ mode island boy (with the) scrapper’s style didn’t come out. So, I was very happy with it. Coach Oyama was able to tame the beast, and I was able to use the tools that I actually have.”
Advertisement
The Hawaiian-born Oyama rose to prominence in MMA during the early 2000s, but he’s experienced a renaissance in recent years working with a new generation of fighters. Camacho said that mix of old and new school and Oyama’s own background as a Pacific Islander made their relationship an easy fit.
“He has 20 to 30 years of martial arts coaching knowledge,” Camacho said. “Maybe because he’s from Hawaii, too — he’s an island boy himself — he knows how to talk to me. He knows how to coach me.”
Back home in the Marianas, a new generation of fighters is on the rise. Prospects such as bantamweights Ricky Camp (10-4) and Trevin Jones (12-6), as well as featherweight Kyle Reyes (14-5), are starting to make names for themselves.
Even with some of the local promotions on hold after the typhoon, Camacho said fighters are finding ways to stay active. They’re keeping the Marianas on the MMA map.
“There are a lot of up-and-comers,” he said. “We have organizations like Pancrase and Deep in Japan, which is only three hours away. Guys are fighting in Australia and Hawaii. Guys are definitely staying busy.”
(Top photo of Frank Camacho: Mike Roach / Zuffa)
ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57kGxoaWxgZXxzfJByZmpoX2d%2BcLLIoJ%2BtoZ6cerit0magp2Wfqr9ursuopp1lmKTEbsDHnmSmmaKerq%2BtjKKqpZmemcBursScmKadXZZ6rbvWZqKesV2iuqJ5x6irm52UZA%3D%3D