New and improved Aaron Pico continued to demonstrate his progression on Friday night.
Fighting for the third time since changing his camp to Jackson Wink MMA, Pico (6-3 MMA, 6-3 BMMA) rolled on a Solo Hatley Jr.
Pico entered a clinic before finishing Hatley with a bare rear choke at 2:10 in the opening round at “Fightsphere” at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. It was Pico’s first victory in his career.
“(Coach) Greg Jackson has slowed me down, he’s really, really simple,” Pico said in his post-fight interview. “I just want to be smart, have a great career.”
Pico seemed composed from the start, as he shot to knock him down and girdled him in a second effort. From there, he put up a positional-improvement textbook display, while softening Hatley Jr. (8-3 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) with punches and elbows.
Hatley, who looked like he no longer wanted to be there, gave up his back, and Pico soon after sank into the winning choke.
The victory was Pico’s second in a row. All six of his career victories have come to an end. Arkansas-based Hatley had a streak of two consecutive wins.
The featherweight bout was the opening of the Bellator 242 main card, which takes place Friday at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The main card airs on Paramount after the preliminaries on YouTube.
Updated results for Bellator 242:
Aaron Pico def. Solo Hatley Jr. by submission (bare rear choke) – Round 1, 2:10 Mark Lemminger def. Jake Smith via TKO (Hits) – Round 2, 1:46 Raufeon Stots def. Cass Bell by submission (naked rear choke – Round 3, 1:24 Ras Hylton defeated Rudy Schaffroth by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
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