LOS ANGELES – Aaron Pico put on a brave face in front of the public, but he’s ready to admit that privately, he had a very tough time bouncing back from high-profile losses.
The heavily hyped competitor, considered by many a future world champion, suffered back-to-back stoppage losses in a pair of fights he was winning against Henry Corrales and Adam Borics in 2019, and he would be lying if he said he wasn’t hurt by the brushback.
“When you’re on national TV and you get embarrassed, it (expletive) gets tough sometimes, and then a lot of people don’t realize how much work we put in,” Pico told MMA Junkie on Wednesday. “Us fighters put in so much time – our time, our family, our girlfriends, our everything.”
The talented featherweight has a strong support system, however, and used it to dust himself off and get his head back in the game.
“Luckily for me, my fans have been very, very good to me, and treated me well and it’s been positive: ‘Hey you’ll be back, you’ll be back,’” Pico said. “Of course you get the (expletives) who say stupid (expletive), that’s just normal, but it was really, really tough for me. But the only thing that (gets you through) is your family hears you out, lets you vent or whatever, and then you can’t just sit here and say ‘poor me, poor me.’ That (expletive) doesn’t get you anywhere. It really doesn’t. I wake up the next day, I’m in the gym, I’m getting better. That will either break you but I’ll tell you, I’ll never (expletive) quit. I’ll never (expletive) quit.”
With that, Pico (4-3 MMA, 4-3 BMMA) plans on going full steam ahead in 2020. He’ll meet Daniel Carey (7-3 MMA, 3-2 BMMA) on the undercard of Bellator 238 on Saturday night, and he’ll do so as a fully entrenched member of Albuquerque’s Jackson Wink MMA.
Pico says training with the likes of Greg Jackson, Mike Winkeljohn and Brandon Gibson at one of the world’s most decorated MMA gyms has made all the difference.
“They work day in and day out,” Pico said. “I’ve heard a lot of people say you don’t get the attention there. I get a lot of attention there. With the coaches, the one thing about them, if you show up for the practices and you want to become a better fighter, they’ll put the time in. It’s the people that, I don’t know the past and stuff like that, but I’ve just heard stories or whatever, but if you show up and you (expletive) get better, they’ll be there for you. I have nothing but good things, I feel good in the gym and outside the gym. The people there have embraced me and been excited about sharing their culture with me in Albuquerque.”
Pico isn’t going to let himself entirely forget his stumbles, because he wants to remind himself how far he still has to go. But he’s confident about starting the next chapter in what’s already been an eventful career.
“There’s not really much to say other than, the hardest part is, I was winning those fights,” Pico said. “So it’s like, (expletive), damn, I was just so close, but, my last fight I was only with Jackson Wink six weeks. Now I’ve had seven months to prepare with the coaches there, and I feel like I have grown as a person and as a fighter. I’m amazed what I know now. What I know now looking back and thinking back to back then still, like, green, you know? And I still am green. But yeah, 2019 was a tough year for me, (expletive), sometimes I just gotta get back up and get back in the gym.”
Bellator 238 takes place Saturday at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif. The main card streams on DAZN following prelims on MMA Junkie.
To hear more from Pico, check out the video above.
Impassioned Aaron Pico on overcoming obstacles: 'I'll never (expletive) quit'