There were “no complaints” from Aaron Pico following his Bellator 260 submission win over Aiden Lee.
Ahead of the fight, Pico had singled out his grappling as his most underrated skillet. He seemed to make a point of showing it off Friday at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT. Submission attempt after submission attempt came from Pico until he finally put Lee away with an anaconda choke in the third round.
“I’m just trying to be a good martial artist everywhere, whether it be on the ground, off my back,” said Pico following the bout. “I just love this game. I’m enjoying myself, I’m enjoying my time in the cage, I’m at a good place mentally, I’m really happy with the team that I’m surrounded with.”
After the fight, Pico called for a top 10 opponent in Bellator’s featherweight division. While he isn’t being too picky, he’d love to run it back with a couple of the fighters who got the better of. One in particular.
“I really want to fight Adam Borics,” Pico stated during the Bellator 260 post-fight press conference. “These guys, Henry Corrales, Zach Freeman, Adam Borics, they fought me when I knew nothing in the game.”
Pico laughs at the sort of things that used to cross his mind heading into a fight. “I was so scared going into a fight before. I would have to get a pump, freakin’ grab my balls and inflate those motherf*ckers and step in the cage, I was so scared,” he admitted. “Just because I didn’t know what was going on. I was just so new. But yeah, I want to fight those guys. I’m a different person, a different fighter. The thing is, I’m still evolving.”
The feeling now is much different. “Of course I’m nervous, it’s something that I really care about, I want to succeed and I want to do good.” Pico wants to prove to himself that he’s one of the best fighters out there, and show his coaches that all the training is paying off. “But when I say I was scared, I was scared because I didn’t really know anything on the ground. I didn’t know what to expect. Now, I have my protocols from the top, I have my protocols from the bottom, I have my rhythm changes, I have different punches, different setups. I’m a different fighter, but I’m learning. I’m learning, I’m not saying I know everything. I just keep saying, I’m in a good place mentally. I really am.”
Watch the full Bellator 260 post-fight press conference with Aaron Pico above.
