Aaron Pico was humble after his second loss in pro MMA on Saturday night.
Pico was knocked out by Henry Corrales in the co-main event of Bellator 214, which took place at The Forum in Inglewood, California. Pico hurt Corrales early in the first round, but was too aggressive and stayed in the pocket for too long. Moments later, Corrales landed a right shot, putting the 22-year-old out cold.
When speaking with reporters after the fight, Pico recognized he had made a mistake, and chalked it up to inexperience. In a later Instagram post, Pico called it a “rookie mistake.”
“It was a hard night for me,” Pico said at the post-fight press conference. … “There’s really no excuses to make.
“Obviously, I made a mistake by staying in the pocket for so long. … That’s just me being young. I thought I was just gonna hit him again. But that’s where Henry’s good. We knew we needed to stay out of that position. He likes to be in the clinch, throwing those bombs and uppercuts. It’s a learning process. But yeah, I thought I was gonna knock him out.”
Pico said he felt confident on the feet because of his four consecutive first-round knockouts, but added that he plans to wrestle more in the future. He said on Instagram he should have taken Corrales to the ground.
“It sucks. It sucks bad,” Pico said of the loss. “But hey, I’m 22 years old. I don’t have this figured out yet. It’s something that needs to slow down for me.
“Obviously, I have a lot of power in my hands, but wait till they see my wrestling. My wrestling is on a different level. … My skills are there. I just need to take my time.”
Asked whether the weight cut may have played an impact on his performance, Pico said nothing went wrong in the lead-up to the fight, from training to his diet. He simply got caught.
“Everything is going well with my training,” Pico said. “Everything is on point: my meal prep is good, my coaching is good. It’s just a little simple mistake, getting hit in the head. There’s not much to say.”