Aaron
Pico
was held up as a can’t-miss prospect before he ever set
foot in the
Bellator
MMA cage. He now appears poised to finally live up to the
hype.
The
Jackson-Wink MMA export will trudge into battle against
Pedro
Carvalho in the
Bellator 299 co-headliner on Saturday at 3Arena in Dublin. Pico
has rattled off seven wins across his past eight appearances. He
last competed on April 22, when he laid claim to a three-round
unanimous decision over former
Ring of
Combat and
Cage Fury Fighting Championships titleholder
James
Gonzales at Bellator 295. Carvalho, meanwhile, has won eight of
his past 12 bouts. The
SBG Ireland rep last fought at Bellator 291, where he wound up
on the wrong side of a unanimous decision against
Jeremy
Kennedy on Feb. 25.
As Pico and Carvalho take aim at one another at 145 pounds, a look
at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this
point:
26: Years of age for Pico, who was born in Whittier, California, on
Sept. 23, 1996.
7: Pico victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for
64% of his career total (11). His list of Bellator victims:
Adli
Edwards,
John de
Jesus,
Daniel
Carey,
Leandro
Higo,
Lee
Morrison, Shane Krutchen and
Justin Linn.
Pico owns two other victories by submission (18%) and two more by
decision (18%).
37: Seconds needed for Pico to put away Krutchen with a punch to
the body at Bellator 192 on Jan. 20, 2018. More than five years
later, it remains his fastest finish to date.
3: Weights at which Pico has fought as a mixed martial artist. He
has gone 10-3 at 145 pounds, 1-0 at 150 pounds and 0-1 at 155
pounds.
.827: Cumulative winning percentage between the four
opponents—Kennedy,
Adam
Borics,
Henry
Corrales and
Zach
Freeman—who have beaten Pico. They boast a combined record of
67-14.
28: Years of age for Carvalho, who was born on June 8, 1995 in
Guimaraes, Portugal.
6: Carvalho wins by submission, accounting for 46% of his career
total (13). His methods of choice: two rear-naked chokes, one
triangle choke, one armbar, one guillotine choke and one face
crank. Carvalho holds to other wins by knockout or technical
knockout (15%) and five more by decision (39%).
1,823: Days between setbacks for Carvalho—the longest such run of
his career. He dropped a unanimous decision to
Adenir
Araujo at an International Pro Combat show on Nov. 16, 2015 and
did not lose again until his knockout defeat to
Patricio
Freire at Bellator 252 on Nov. 12, 2020.
38: Rounds completed by Carvalho as a professional mixed martial
artist. He has gone the distance on eight different occasions and
carries a 5-3 record in those bouts.
102: Combined victories between the seven opponents—Kennedy,
Araujo, Freire,
Piotr
Niedzielski,
Jay-Jay
Wilson,
Wisma Lima
and
Artur
Lemos—who have defeated Carvalho. They sport an .803 cumulative
winning percentage at 102-25.