Aaron Pico🇺🇸 (13-4) is an elite freestyle wrestler turned MMA fighter who has recently signed with the UFC after stints in Bellator where he went 12-4 and PFL where he was 1-0. In this post, I am going to go over his wrestling background and how I feel about his MMA skills and career in general. In his younger years, he went 42–0 as a high school freshman, winning the California state championship at 132 pounds. During this time period, he also won gold at the FILA Cadet World Championships in freestyle wrestling and claimed multiple titles at the National Freestyle Championships. Aaron did not attend college traditionally because in his Sophomore year he began college classes as he did high school through dual enrollment which is a program that allows students to take college courses and earn both high school and college credits. Because of this, Pico was able to pursue his goals in international wrestling earlier, where he in 2014 beat Division 1 All-American Zain Retherford in the finals and secured the US Junior World Team spot. He then, at age 19, placed second and barely missed out on Olympic qualification in the 2016 US team trials at 143.3 pounds. Reguardless of that "failure" during his career, he earned notable wins over guys like Alibeggadzhi Emeev, Nazar Kulchytskyy, Ganzorigiin Mandakhnaran, and Andrei Karpach. In 2017, Aaron made the transition to MMA. His strong wrestling control and wide variety of takedowns helped him develop very good ground & and pound, which I'm fond of watching. Funnily enough, even with his accolades, he's more known for his KO's in MMA. Some people don't know that Pico has been crafting his Boxing since the age of 10 and has trained under the icon Freddie Roach which has helped install his solid distance management, accurate combinations, and tendency to work the body which he amplifies with his frankly devastating power. There are also hints of Muay Thai in his game shown by the head kicks and elbows he mixes into his stand-up. My questions about his game are about his grappling and striking defense. His wrestling is fully developed but things like his blue belt BJJ and defensive grappling are still a work in progress and haven't really been tested by anyone so far let alone the top of the talent in the UFC. We've seen him lose multiple grappling exchanges that have lead to losses like against Corrales and Borics so one has to hope he has been working on those areas of his game over the years if he is going to step up against someone like Movsar Evloev who would expose any holes. Now, onto my second worry, which is his striking defense and durability. Aaron has been knocked out in 3 of his 4 losses due to either technical errors in his stand up or his tendency to be too agressive and it has already costed him against fighters who straight up are not the tier he will be facing in the UFC. This has me on the ropes about how he will do in the UFC, I think he is ranked level, but this matchup against Movsar is too much to soon.