The Brave News

by: Andrew Fierro

It looks like we are seeing the best version of Aaron Pico!

Going into this fight Aaron Pico was 6-3 and was coming off of two of his best performances he has had. He started off his Bellator career with a 4-1 record before having two disappointing losses. Despite having a rocky start he seemed to be a changed fighter and looks to be better than he ever has.

The fighter he was facing in this fight named John de Jesus was also coming off of a win with a unanimous decision over Vladyslav Parubchenko where he was dominant the entire fight. The fighter used his wide range of different striking techniques to keep his opponent always on his back foot keeping the fight where he wanted. Though with Pico this didn’t work.

About midway through the first round, Pico was able to take John de Jesus to the ground and out wrestle him the rest of the round. It was a dominant round win for Pico and it seemed to be a good start to the fight for him. After this going into the second round he looked to do the same with an early takedown being landed.

After this take-down was landed they were on the ground for a little while though John de Jesus was able to get back to his feet. While on the feet Aaron Pico had John de Jesus up against the fence with Pico controlling the standing exchange. This is when Jesus went to throw a right knee but Pico was ready and combatted his knee with a right overhand that put Jesus to sleep. 

This knockout was an amazing knockout because it showed off the power Aaron Pico has and can use when he needs to. After he knocked him down he was able to finish him off with a couple more punches until the referee pulled Pico off. 

Pico attributes the win to him and his team watching tape of Jesus’ earlier fights and listening to Jesus’ corner telling him different combinations to throw during the fight. When they were able to tell what Jesus was going to throw based on what his corner told him, they were able to come up with a game plan to exploit it.

Pico said before he threw the punch he knew exactly what was coming and was able to remember what his coaches told him to do and get the knockout. This fight and this exchange shows how important gameplans are in the sport of mixed martial arts and how putting in that extra effort of watching tape not only to improve your own performance but to see what the other fighter’s tendencies are could be the difference between a win and a loss.

After this fight, Pico’s record is now 7-3 and he is on his way up the rankings to soon hopefully be a contender for the title. He has seemed to be getting better and better with each of his performances. He has shown a lot of growth and is less of an emotional fighter and more calm, cool and collected. He has been able to incorporate his strong wrestling into his standup making it hard for his opponents to know what is coming next. Aaron Pico is looking better and better and it will be interesting to see how he will be able to top this performance in his next.