Aaron Pico will don the wrestling singlet as soon as once more because the UFC star will compete beneath the Actual American Freestyle banner in opposition to a former PFL kingpin. The previous multi-time titleholder contained in the PFL sensible cage is Lance Palmer, who was additionally a former Ohio State All-American, and he’ll wrestle Pico in St. Louis at RAF 10 on June thirteenth.
Pico was a standout American wrestling prospect earlier than stepping into MMA, and he got here only a single victory wanting representing America within the 2016 Olympics. The previous Bellator MMA product appears to be like to realize momentum with consecutive wins in numerous aggressive disciplines after not too long ago securing his first win contained in the UFC. Pico did this at UFC 327 in opposition to fellow former Bellator MMA alum and multi-division Bellator champ Patricio Pitbull when the previous bested the latter through unanimous choice.
This put Aaron Pico again into the win column in a giant means after his devastating KO loss in his UFC debut in opposition to Lerone Murphy final August. For Pico, he will probably be making his debut with Actual American Freestyle within the Summer time. Conversely, Palmer has now had a number of wrestling contests in RAF, together with a conflict with high UFC light-weight contender Arman Tsarukyan in a dropping effort to the extensively identified UFC combatant.
Palmer can also be trying to put collectively back-to-back wins identical to Pico is. Palmer scored his first win in Actual American Freestyle after beforehand happening a two-fight skid within the skilled wrestling outlet when he notched a W at RAF 8 earlier this month.
Aaron Pico felt his “job was on the road” heading into UFC 327 conflict
Aaron Pico now has a .500 file contained in the UFC, however there was a sentiment that he had main into the bout the place he felt like he was combating for his spot on the roster. This was expressed by Pico in a post-fight interview with MMA Preventing, as Pico said [via MMA Fighting],
“For certain, it was a should [win]. My job was on the road. That’s the best way I felt. I attempt not to consider it an excessive amount of. In fact, I had my days the place it was very troublesome for me. Like I all the time say, I’m human, so that you generally are inclined to overthink. Typically I feel that’s my downside.”
“I want to simply dwell slightly bit extra and never overthink. However yeah, it’s a scary thought understanding that hey, if you happen to drop this match, you could be lower. You by no means know. That was by no means mentioned to me, so I used to be simply speculating. Possibly I didn’t want to do this, however yeah, I wanted to win. That’s simply backside line.”
