OT: Pico
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That was BRUTAL! One of the hardest shots I’ve seen. Reminded me of his mma debut. Came in with a ton of hype and got KO’d. He will be back but he should take some time after that.
Here's the full fight. The Knockout is at about the 4:45 min mark.
I'm no Pico fan but I cringe seeing him get hit like that.
That's the kind of impact the can cause real problems later in life.
That's the kind of impact the can cause real problems later in life.
Does he have college wrestling eligibility? As his marketing power fizzles out for MMA competition, he could possibly make some good coin with NIL? He was a monster wrestler.
But we have two kidneys and two sides of the head. If one goes, we can amputate and get by with the other.
I always think about the “what if” with Pico. If he had gone to college and somehow always been in Zain’s weight class, we might never have appreciated Zain’s greatness. Zain could have been a zero-time champion and zero-time Hodge winner.
Pico had the same hype for MMA and look how that turned out. Funny what happens when you actually have to compete against other high level athletes instead of just letting your fanbase tell us how great you would have been.
Not a Pico fan but he did beat Oliver , Ness and Humphrey while in High School. I think that is why people wonder what his career would have been like. I am sure there are others but objectively he was a talent
There is a long list of high school stars the never won a ncaa championship. A classic case if what if.
The 'mixed' in Mixed Martial Arts sure can provide quite a mix of those arts!
Ben Askren annoyed the eff outta fans b/c he stuck to what he was good at: takedowns and submissions. Dude never bothered to push a striking agenda, and many fans, including Dana White, found his performances boring. However much winning was included.
Otoh, Pico, and to some extent thus far Bo Nickal, have chosen to put more energy into striking, with naturally less focus on their native strengths from their wrestling backgrounds.
Who's gonna come along and be the Mixologist to help these bros with the right recipes?
Or....or, is winning actually less of an important outcome in the mixology game?
Ben Askren annoyed the eff outta fans b/c he stuck to what he was good at: takedowns and submissions. Dude never bothered to push a striking agenda, and many fans, including Dana White, found his performances boring. However much winning was included.
Otoh, Pico, and to some extent thus far Bo Nickal, have chosen to put more energy into striking, with naturally less focus on their native strengths from their wrestling backgrounds.
Who's gonna come along and be the Mixologist to help these bros with the right recipes?
Or....or, is winning actually less of an important outcome in the mixology game?
Pico is hardly only a wrestler, he's a very high level striker. He started competing internationally in boxing and Pankration before he was 10 and is a former national Golden Gloves champion and won several international Pankration tournaments in his teens. He is rarely outgunned from a striking perspective. He was absolutely piecing up Murphy (a very high level striker in his own right) on the feet before he got caught. IMO Pico's primary problem in MMA to date is he fights like Bo Bassett wrestles; he's always attacking. In MMA it only takes a single mistake to be put to sleep. He needs to go into fights with a better gameplan and be more cautious.
Nickal isn't in the same universe as Pico on the feet, but I'm sure everybody was telling him his best shot against de Ridder was to punch a hole in his face. I would have said the same thing. De Ridder's is massive for 185 and a freaking anaconda - if Nickal took him down, he was then in de Ridder's world. But, de Ridder was useless on his feet; his ONE fights were hard to watch because he was so one dimensional. As Nickal found out, de Ridder has been working on his striking.
As good of a wrestler as Nickal is, he's undersized at 185. I'm not sure how confident he is that he can keep these bigger guys down and keep his neck and limbs out of harms way in the process. He needs to figure out how to make 170 if he wants a shot of being a real contender in MMA.
Nickal isn't in the same universe as Pico on the feet, but I'm sure everybody was telling him his best shot against de Ridder was to punch a hole in his face. I would have said the same thing. De Ridder's is massive for 185 and a freaking anaconda - if Nickal took him down, he was then in de Ridder's world. But, de Ridder was useless on his feet; his ONE fights were hard to watch because he was so one dimensional. As Nickal found out, de Ridder has been working on his striking.
As good of a wrestler as Nickal is, he's undersized at 185. I'm not sure how confident he is that he can keep these bigger guys down and keep his neck and limbs out of harms way in the process. He needs to figure out how to make 170 if he wants a shot of being a real contender in MMA.
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Of course we’ll never know what Pico’s hypothetical college career would have looked like. But we have more data than “just” fans talking. Pico is 6-0 vs Zain, and has beaten numerous other studs in wrestling.
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Not sure where he said it, but there was an interview once asking about how things would’ve gone between him and Zain and he responded by saying they probably would’ve been teammates if he wrestled in college. Not sure where it is, but I know I heard that
That is a great non-biased observation. I agree 100%!I always think about the “what if” with Pico. If he had gone to college and somehow always been in Zain’s weight class, we might never have appreciated Zain’s greatness. Zain could have been a zero-time champion and zero-time Hodge winner.
Think Pico will be just fine. MMA is always a toss up as if you can connect and land one punch/elbow/knee that’s sometimes all you need. Pico was in the drivers seat before it was ended. He will recover from this, it is not the end of the world.
Forget any long list. Daton Fix won more U17/U20 world medals than Pico and beat some Spencer Lee jabroni in the U17 team trials.
Pico might have been an NCAA champ, but it was hardly guaranteed.
I think day-before weigh-ins are a problem in the UFC. Bo mentioned recently he cuts down from about 210. If cutting 25 pounds makes one small for the weight in UFC then that is a big issue in my mind.
Not in folk style he didn't. You can't take away the strongest part of Zain's wrestling and act like it didn't matter.
Furthermore the only time they wrestled after high school, Pico was only training freestyle while Zain was wrestling Folk and dealing with college classes. If you tell me that's not a advantage I won't believe you.
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Pico was a JR. Golden Gloves Champion, not an actual Golden Gloves Championship.
Typical embellishment of Picos accomplishments. Amazing after him getting knocked out yet again people still talk this guy up.
All you have to do is watch his fights to see how good of a striker he is. He was dominating Murphy, a very high level striker, standing up; he just got caught with a hail mary shot. There's been a grand total of 10 spinning elbow knockouts in the history of the UFC. I can understand people here not liking him (he's a big sh*t talker and was promoted as the next big thing and hasn't backed it up in MMA, wrestling against Zane), but it's hilarious to deny his skills and pedigree as a combat athlete. His striking is head, shoulders, knees, and toes above any former PSU wrestler turned MMA fighter. I don't really like him either and don't think he'll ever be a UFC champ - you can only get your bell rung so many times, and he might have hit that number.
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No denying that day before weigh-ins are an issue in UFC, but it's the game. Nickal isn't going to be competitive with the elite with such a size disadvantage.
Just watched the video. You have to give Murphy a lot of credit for the quick reaction after a few minutes had already progressed in the fight. I've seen the same in wrestling. A guy is ahead on points and his opponent suddenly catches him with one quick move. Don't forget Rohn vs Lambrecht in the 2002 NCAA finals.
stop thinkingI always think about the “what if” with Pico. If he had gone to college and somehow always been in Zain’s weight class, we might never have appreciated Zain’s greatness. Zain could have been a zero-time champion and zero-time Hodge winner.
To each their own but I would really hate to make a living by getting punched, kicked and elbowed in the face.
As someone who trains with a lot of guys that do, ditto. It impacts (mostly negatively) every aspect of your life and NONE of them come out of it without lifelong physical and cognitive consequences. But, no better way to push yourself mentally and physically and it's a heck of a lot of fun.
Being married only makes you wish someone was punching, kicking and elbowing you in the face.
I get the pushing yourself thing. Whether it is David Goggins running to "build calluses on your mind" or Alex Honnold free climbing some people just need the constant challenge. I can see that fighting would have the same allure, but you can roll jujitsu with someone without the striking component
You won't meet a purple belt or up who hasn't had a serious training-related injury. Even if you're training with the same guys day-in-day-out and have an agreement that you just flow, stuff happens when you are rolling around and manipulating joints. Go to any gym and you'll find a ton of people who will strike but are afraid to even try grappling, but the inverse is rarely - if ever - true. It's all dangerous; I love it, and so do my wife and kids. Zero interest in doing it for a living and our competitive days are even mostly over.
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Don't know where you heard that, but that sounds like some fantasy stuff. He has said he would have wrestled in college if UCLA had a team. But if he were wrestling at NCAAs it would have been at ASU. Him, the Valencias and Olivas were all REALLY tight.
This is a 6th grade retort.
"Myopic" was a 12th-grade word usage, but you stumbled backward with this lame ole saw.
