Aaron Pico dominates Pedro Carvalho with first round finish at Bellator 299
Bellator MMA returned to us today, September 23, 2023, for Bellator 299, going down live from the 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland.
Headlining the event is a 185 lb title bout between Johnny Eblen (13-0) and the brother of current UFC welterweight champion, no. 1 ranked middleweight contender Fabian Edwards (12-2).
Co-headlining the event was a matchup of featherweight contenders between no. 3 ranked Aaron Pico (12-4) and no. 5 ranked former title challenger Pedro Carvalho (13-8).
Pico, who turns 27 years young today, came into the bout having gone 7-1 over his latest eight appearances, the only defeat coming via injury. Portugal native Carvalho on the other hand had gone 2-3 since challenging Patricio Freire for the Bellator featherweight championship back in November of 2022, a fight he went into on a six-fight win streak.
Continue reading to see how our featherweight co-main event of the evening went down:
Official Result: Aaron Pico def. Pedro Carvalho via TKO (elbows & punches) at 3:05 of round one
Carvalho opens up the bout with a nice body kick before taking aim at the lead leg of Pico.
Pico backs Carvalho up with a heavy left hand about 20 seconds in, and eventually secures three takedowns in the first two minutes. Once Carvalho returns to his feet for the third time Pico floors him with a nasty right uppercut.
Pico settles into the guard of Carvalho where he opens him up with a series of elbows. Carvalho is forced to open his guard as a result and is met with Pico’s heavy hands reigning down on his face, eventually stopping the fight via TKO in the opening round.
Aaron Pico improves to 8-1 over his last nine appearances today at Bellator 299.
Aaron Pico with a first round finish pic.twitter.com/7KRYK68VSk
— MMA Mania (@mmamania) September 23, 2023
If you enjoyed this piece, feel free to share it on social media!
