(WSVN) - South Florida has been described as the Mecca of MMA with high-level teams and individual fighters. Two local fighters will soon enter the Octagon for a tournament with worldwide attention.
David Camacho and Daniel Morrison are about to face the biggest challenge in their MMA career.
“You’re like, ‘Oh, my God. It’s like blood in the water as a shark,’ or you’re going in there like, ‘This time, I can finish this fight,'” Morrison said.
Morrison and Camacho will represent Team USA in the Amateur MMA World Championship in Abu Dhabi.
It’s a single-elimination tournament — win and you move on, lose and you’re out.
To become champions in their weight class, they’ll have to win each match for five straight days.
“Taking our opponents out as quickly as possible is the main goal,” said Camacho. “Different countries are known for different advantages within the martial arts realm, so you have a lot of people talking about Dagestani and Kazakhstani wrestlers within that Russian region, and they’re very well known for grappling. We know that we’re gonna face some of these guys, and if that’s the case, then we have to be cautious or aware.”
Camacho and Morrison will be among more than 500 fighters from over 50 countries in the world championships.
The key is to strike early and seize the moment in three, three-minute rounds.
“It’s mostly going in there and imposing my own will on someone else,” Morrison said. “You can’t really worry too much about them, about their game plan because then that’s gonna take away from myself, so I go in there and pose what I wanna do.”
Both Morrison and Camacho have been trained for years by John Wei.
“If they can get to the top, win the event, or at least get to the semifinals, it’s a great recognition, and it’ll open a lot of doors for them with other pro promoters and also UFC,” he said.
Camacho said he’s ready.
“You see us on the streets, you wouldn’t think of us as fighters,” he said, “but again, once that bolt is shut and we’re in the cage, it’s a completely different animal that turns on for sure.”
Camacho and Morrison have both won national amateur titles and both are proven fighters.
They are set to compete in Abu Dhabi next week.
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