Aleksa Camur had no idea he wanted to become a mixed martial artist.
The 23-year-old prospect, who looks to earn a UFC contract on Tuesday night as part of Dana White’s Contender Series, was an athlete growing up in Ohio but did not take the traditional route to discover combat sports.
He wasn’t a wrestler. He never got involved in karate as a kid. He wasn’t even a huge fan of the UFC outside of friends inviting him to watch cards with them in Cleveland.
While he wasn’t an avid follower of the sport, Camur couldn’t miss the attention being paid to a local gym near his home that started producing talented fighters like former UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic and recent UFC flyweight title contender Jessica Eye.