Aaron Pico knows what Gable Steveson is going through.
Steveson suffered one of the biggest upsets in UFC history at UFC 331 on September 19. Sean Sharaf knocked him out in 12 seconds at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The Olympic gold medalist is now 4-1 in MMA and 1-1 in the UFC.
Pico was also a highly touted prospect who took a hard fall. He was knocked out by Lerone Murphy in the UFC 319 co-main event in his promotional debut.
He told MMA Junkie Radio that stepping away helped him reset.
I’m not going to sugarcoat it: It sucks big time. But I’ve been there before and everybody’s process is a little bit different.
I stepped away for a little bit, for a few months and went traveled the world with my family, smoked a lot of cigars. I like cigars, by the way, and just did some thinking and reflecting on what I could have done, what I need to change, and asked myself, do I really want to do this? And the answer was, hell yes, I do, and just got back to work.
Pico said the people around you matter most after a loss like that.
You’ve got to block out the noise, and I surround myself with people who really care about me and had some tough conversations, especially with my father. There’s one person on the planet that’s going to really tell you what you need to hear, and that’s your dad.
He admitted it is easier said than done.
When you’re a young kid, it’s easy because you don’t really have outside influence. You take a loss, yeah, you cry, it sucks, but then you’re back in the wrestling room.
Do what got you there as a young kid and that’s training hard, figuring out what you need to do with your coaches, how you get better and obviously, keep working.
Pico rebounded with a unanimous decision win over Patricio Freire at UFC 327. He faces Losene Keita at UFC 333 on October 24 in Abu Dhabi.
