Franck Camacho makes his return to the UFC at UFC 228, facing fellow prospect Geoff Neal in a preliminary card affair.
It has been nearly nine months since Camacho was last seen in the Octagon and that’s due to some injuries that have kept the fighter out of action.
“I rolled my ankle, luckily nothing broke. I was supposed to fight at UFC Singapore, I was so bummed man because I wanted to be on that card. Singapore’s awesome, I love the fans there and its not too far from home. I rolled my ankle really bad man and I was out for like four weeks before I was able to get running again, super bummed about that. I took a well needed break man, I was talking to my wife and last year…I fought four times in eight months. When my ankle healed, I called up Jason House…my manager and I was like ‘do you think we can get a fight?’ We got the call to fight Geoff Neal in September,” says Camacho in an exclusive interview with Fightful’s James Lynch.
In that four fight stretch mentioned by Camacho, victories came over Gun Hwan park and Damien Brown, while defeats came at the hands of Jingliang Li and Drew Dober.
Neal brings a southpaw fighting style and a height advantage inside of the Octagon at UFC 228, but Camacho has been getting geared up for those advantages due to his training camp sparring partners.
“I stick with the usual guys and actually I’m really, really blessed to have my training partners kind of mimic him. They’d watch his fights and they would throw straight punches. Also, to this fight camp, I’m really working a lot with lefties and I’m drilling with lefties. Like my last fight with Dober, he was a lefty, but I was predominantly sparring with guys who were right handed. Although I have been training with lefties all of my life, I just gotta slip the left hand and return and watch that left kick or circle to their left side. This time its very, very specific training,” says Camacho.
UFC 228 takes place on Saturday, September 8 from the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas with Tyron Woodley and Darren Till headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
