It may fly in the face of expectations for a professional mixed martial artist, but Oliver Enkamp is not a competitive person.
Enkamp (10-2) picked up his third consecutive win at Bellator 248 in Paris, France on Saturday. He once again fell back on his favorite submission, the Japanese neck tie, earning a win over Emmanuel Dawa within a round.
For Enkamp, MMA is a personal journey, and there’s two sides to that coin, he explained in a virtual media scrum following the fight.
“First and foremost, I’ve never been a competitive person. People find that hard to believe, because I’m in a very competitive sport, but honestly ever since I was a kid, I never wanted to compete against anyone but myself,” the Swedish welterweight explained. “I always want to improve what I’m doing, but I don’t like competition, because it makes conflict somehow.”
Even playing video game with his friends growing up, said Enkamp, “if I started to win too much, I let to other guy win, so we don’t create a bad environment. That’s always been my attitude. I prefer to spread love than win against someone.”
Beyond that, Enkamp grew up in a traditional karate dojo, “which is not only about physical training, but also the correct character development,” he noted. Which in turn involves “teaching respect, discipline, humility, and bringing your karate outside the dojo to make the world a better pace.” Something that is “deeply ingrained in my upbringing,” Enkamp added.
Despite his laid back demeanor and lack of competitiveness, however, the title is still the goal — even if just a symbol of self-improvement and perfection. And Enkamp believes that with his third consecutive win in the Bellator cage, he’s closer to the belt than ever.
“Absolutely. Three first-round finishes by TKO and submission, that speaks for itself,” said Enkamp. “I don’t know if there’s a ranking, I don’t follow it really, but I always want to climb the ladder so to speak, and get harder and harder challenges.”
Watch the full Bellator 248 post-fight press scrum with Oliver Enkamp above.
