Bellator 180: Aaron Pico vs. Zach Freeman PBP (Discussion)

Should've fed him an overblown 125er with a 3-5 record. Freeman looked 2 weight classes bigger !
 
Bellator (and the UFC) need to use some smaller orgs as developmental leagues for fighters. When they get good enough, they'll have a nice record and can move to the bigger league.
 
This panel discussion is so fucking cringe. Schaub is such a dumb ass dude bro
 
Mixed said:
Don't know much about him but he seems small to me.
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Weird thing is, he looked bigger and more muscular in training than during the fight itself. Thomson himself said he should be at 145. Guess I was a bit mislead. I figured he was a young guy growing into a solid lightweight frame, but I guess not.
 
Steven1562 said:
Exactly this Pico kid should be fighting in a lower promotion. Take a few fights and slowly build yourself up. Not just jump into the water with the sharks.
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Freeman wasn't a shark though.
- His record of last 4 years was 1-2.
- He was also making his Bellator debut.

Likely he was handpicked to make Pico look good.
 
Kinda disappointing. Hopefully Aaron learns to has some respect and caution now. Can't just wade in chin first no matter who you are.

Now hopefully Bellator will throw Dillon Danis to the wolves so I can get some real LOL moments.
 
GordoBarraBJJ said:
Kinda disappointing. Hopefully Aaron learns to has some respect and caution now. Can't just wade in chin first no matter who you are.

Now hopefully Bellator will throw Dillon Danis to the wolves so I can get some real LOL moments.
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One thing is for sure, Danis would not have looked anywhere near so foolish.
 
Saw the post fight presser. Freeman just seems like a hard working good dude. Real happy for him.
 
Absolute hilarity.

This is why I scratch my head when people harp on about having NCAA credentials being a given that you're gonna be great at MMA. All it means, really is you're going to be able to take someone down at some point, that's about it. Freeman was a pretty stern test considering Bellator have given guys like Kharitonov debuts against 6-2 guys or whatever, but still, he totally humbled Pico. They should've given Pico some 1-0 dude, I wouldn't have complained and neither would anyone else, I only get on my high-horse when they give some hyped, experienced major signing a jobber to debut.
 
The only thing I took away during that 20 something-ish fight was that Pico has a terrible chin. That can be the death nail for people's career. Maybe he does have great technique but that chin will always hold him back. There have been guys to overcome having glassjaws, namely Shinya Aoki, but he was smart and knew that he was deficient in striking and had the upperhand in the grappling department against 95% of the division and minimized his chances of getting KTFOd by keeping fights in his wheelhouse. Even then, it's not like Aoki hasn't found himself on the end of a few stoppages from time to time. The worrying thing about Pico is all he talks about is wanting to knock people out.

he wrestling forums are being particularly hard on Pico. It was hard seeing Pico leave wrestling for MMA when and yes he was getting a great amount of hype, but when you have guys like Bob Cook who clearly know about MMA saying things like, "Aaron Pico is the greatest prospect I've ever seen" it's hard not to get excited about that. I don't think we should give up on Pico just yet, but we should temper down all our expectations knowing what we know about his chin now.
 
SBC said:
The only thing I took away during that 20 something-ish fight was that Pico has a terrible chin. That can be the death nail for people's career. Maybe he does have great technique but that chin will always hold him back. There have been guys to overcome having glassjaws, namely Shinya Aoki, but he was smart and knew that he was deficient in striking and had the upperhand in the grappling department against 95% of the division and minimized his chances of getting KTFOd by keeping fights in his wheelhouse. Even then, it's not like Aoki hasn't found himself on the end of a few stoppages from time to time. The worrying thing about Pico is all he talks about is wanting to knock people out.

he wrestling forums are being particularly hard on Pico. It was hard seeing Pico leave wrestling for MMA when and yes he was getting a great amount of hype, but when you have guys like Bob Cook who clearly know about MMA saying things like, "Aaron Pico is the greatest prospect I've ever seen" it's hard not to get excited about that. I don't think we should give up on Pico just yet, but we should temper down all our expectations knowing what we know about his chin now.
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I agree, but it's still hard to know what his chin is like. The EASIEST time to get rocked is with the first punch. We never got to see his recovery either, because the dude is a jiujitsu champion.

Bellator is dumb as fuck. They should have matched him with someone that he could panic wrestle with if he needed to.
 
Danespina said:
Freeman wasn't a shark though.
- His record of last 4 years was 1-2.
- He was also making his Bellator debut.

Likely he was handpicked to make Pico look good.
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Sure the guy wasn't the greatest opponent but he had 11 fights of experience over Pico's 0 fights. Just poor match making. He should be fighting a similar young fighter with a similar record in a lower promotion.
 
I'd still like to see pico fight another experienced fighter, just at 145.

Heck,give him Warren, but at 145
 
I like when Freeman called out Chael Sonnen for not respecting him.

Anyone who looks like Zach Freeman and wins 80% of his fights is a monster at that weight class.
 
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