At Bellator 222, highly touted prospect, Aaron Pico was looking to get back into the win column as he took on Adam Borics. There, the 22-year-old was coming off of a knockout loss to Henry Corrales to snap his four-fight winning streak and put his record at 4-2.

Early on it appeared Pico would do just that. He dominated round one as he used his wrestling and got Borics down over and over again. But, in the second round, as Adam Borics went for a flying knee, Pico went for a takedown. There, the knee connected and dropped Pico and he was finished by ground and pound. The loss set his record to 4-3, and now many question just how good he is. And, his last opponent believes he is good but maybe the hype wasn’t justified.

“He’s such a good guy, very talented, very technical,” Borics said to MMA Fighting. “People forget but he was a wrestling world champion and not too many people can say that. I really respect that. He’s a boxing Golden Gloves [champion]. He looks like a very nice guy. He’s a hard worker, too. He’s so [motivated].

“I think he just needs some rest and maybe the hype was too much for him because he was crazy hyped. Maybe he was too young for the pressure.”


As for what Pico can do to get better and show the world why the hype was justified, Borics believes a move down in weight will do him wonders.

“I think he is a little bit short and maybe in 135, he can beat everybody,” Borics said. “Because he was really, really strong and I think maybe he can cut more [weight]. I usually cut 20 pounds and maybe he didn’t do that or maybe he just cut 15 or 10 pounds.”