Freddie Roach: Pico needs to realize he’s more than a puncher
Coach Freddie Roach explains what went wrong in Aaron Pico’s fight against Henry Corrales in the Bellator 214 co-main event on Saturday.
Freddie Roach says Aaron Pico made a mistake by not using his wrestling at Bellator 214.
Pico fell to Henry Corrales by first-round knockout in the event’s co-main event on Saturday night. Bellator 214 took place at The Forum in Inglewood, California, and was headlined by Ryan Bader’s quick win over Fedor Emelianenko.
Pico stunned Corrales early in the first round, but got too aggressive and stayed in the pocket for too long. Corrales caught Pico with a right hand, knocking the 22-year-old out cold. The bout marked Pico’s second loss in MMA. He fell to Zach Freeman in his pro debut in June 2017, but was riding a four-fight winning streak heading into the high-profile featherweight pairing.
Roach, a longtime boxing trainer who worked with Pico ahead of the Corrales fight, said in an interview with Fightful.com after the card that Pico should have taken Corrales to the ground instead of trying to knock him out. All four of Pico’s pro wins resulted in a first-round knockout, but Pico is also a world-class wrestler.
“He made a mistake,” Roach said. “He’s a very good puncher, but he’s an even better wrestler. He made a choice to go in and try to just bang him out of there. He should’ve made the choice to go wrestle and do what he does best — and he had the guy out.”
Similarly to Pico himself, Roach chalks up the defeat to Pico’s inexperience and youth. He has only been a pro fighter for a little over a year and a half. At the post-fight press conference, Pico said he plans to wrestle more in his future fights.
“It’s just a young man’s decision, which is kind of they rush into it,” Roach said. “A little more experience, take your time. He’s gotta realize that he has more than just one game. I mean, he has very good hands, yes, but the thing is, he has a lot more than that. He’s one of the best wrestlers in the world. He should’ve finished the fight with wrestling — but should’ve, could’ve. In the heat of the moment, things happen.
“I told him, ‘I want to see the wrestler someday,’ because I’ve only seen the puncher. We just made a bad decision at the wrong time. You get caught. ... He’ll be back.”