Considering Aaron Pico’s tough run of recent form, Daniel Carey can’t quite understand why they’d match Pico up with him.
LOS ANGELES – Hot on the heels of his last win, [autotag]Daniel Carey[/autotag] will return to action against another hot prospect. But this one might be the most highly-touted of them all.
Carey (7-3 MMA, 3-2 BMMA) faces [autotag]Aaron Pico[/autotag] this Saturday at Bellator 238 and, considering his opponent’s tough run of recent form, he admitted he can’t quite understand why they’d match Pico (4-3 MMA, 4-3 BMMA) up with him.
Pico, a fighter that has been dubbed as a future champion, suffered back-to-back stoppage losses to Henry Corrales and Adam Borics, while Carey’s most recent outing saw him hand Peruvian prospect Gaston Bolanos only the second loss of his MMA career. Now Carey wonders how Pico will be able to deal with another defeat, as he plans on knocking him out on Saturday.
“Yeah I think they thrusted him in there a little too quick,” Carey told MMA Junkie on Wednesday. “Threw him against some pretty tough opponents and then they made him pay for it and then why on earth they would give him me after two KO losses in a row? I have no idea because I’m going to KO him a third time and I don’t know how his brain is going to handle that. It’s going to be rough for him.”
With the story of the fight centered on Pico’s potential comeback story, Carey knows he’s being underestimated in this fight, but he has no problem playing spoiler once again.
“I think they’re overlooking me a little bit,” Carey said. “You keep throwing prospects at me, I keep knocking them down. You think I’d get a little bit more love, but I get it. It’s fine. I think I’m going to make my next t-shirt, it’s going to say ‘Prospect Killer’ all over it, especially after I KO this kid.”
Although he says he hasn’t had the credit he deserves for his displays, Carey says a decisive victory over Pico could change all that and potentially propel him towards the division’s big names.
“I wouldn’t mind being an alternate to that million-dollar tournament, or possibly fighting for a title,” Carey said. “I wouldn’t mind either one of those. They keep throwing these prospects, their next big up and coming guy, and I keep knocking them down, so why don’t you throw me the champ or the best guy in the tournament or whatnot?”
With previous scheduled fights never coming to fruition, Curtis Millender hopes it happens this time.
LOS ANGELES – [autotag]Curtis Millender[/autotag] is yet to make the first walk of his second tenure as a Bellator fighter, but he already has a hit list of potential victims in mind, with one of the promotion’s biggest names firmly in his crosshairs.
Millender was due to face [autotag]Michael Page[/autotag] on numerous occasions in the past, including a booking at Bellator 134 in 2015. But injury to “MVP” scuppered that matchup and left Millender unable to face the flashy Brit. Now back in Bellator, Millender (17-5 MMA, 2-2 BMMA) says he hopes to finally get his hands on Page, and would also love to share the cage with “MVP’s” fellow countryman, Paul Daley.
“The Paul Daley fight is just like I’m a fan of his so I would love to fight him but (expletive) MVP,” Millender told MMA Junkie on Wednesday. “We’ve been scheduled to fight so many times, just the falling out, it just doesn’t make sense. It’s either the way me and him have been matched and put together and the reason why it hasn’t come together, it’s never been my fault. I’ve never said no to anybody, ever and I mean this dude, just (expletive) this dude.”
But first, Millender has to get past [autotag]Moses Murrietta[/autotag] (8-3 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) this Saturday at Bellator 238. Despite perhaps not being a household name of the Bellator roster, Murrietta is a face Millender says he’s very familiar with.
“I’m a fan of this sport, I know everybody,” Millender said. “I watch all the Bellator fights, I watch all the LFA fights. Moses Murietta, I’ve been to pretty much all of his local fights because he’s a local guy so I’ve said it before, there’s not going to be anybody that they’re going to throw at me that I don’t know.”
“He’s a technical striker, as well, but you can’t do that with me. It doesn’t matter how good your striking is, I’m going to find a hole. I’m going to find a hole and exploit it.”
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Millender’s release from the UFC came as a surprise to many, including himself, but now his fighting future has been secured, Millender is glad to no longer be in limbo and excited to return to action.
“For six months it was just: ‘Oh, we’re going to give you something… Hmm, we’re not going to give you something,’ and then ‘We’re not going to give you anything, you’re cut.’ So it’s been a very, very emotional rollercoaster these last six to eight months but I have a new spot and they’re taking care of me and I get to fight, do what I love.”
Now settled with his new promotion, but still with the bitter taste of his UFC release in his mouth, Millender said he plans on turning that sense of injustice into positive performances inside the Bellator cage, starting against Murietta on Saturday night.
“That is the mood for life now. I’m always going to be fighting with a chip on my shoulder,” he said. “Somebody’s always going to have to pay for what happened.”
Bellator’s resident “human highlight reel” Raymond Daniels says he’s ready to unleash another spectacular finish at Bellator 238 on Jan. 25.
LOS ANGELES – [autotag]Raymond Daniels[/autotag] isn’t shy of setting his sights sky-high.
The former kickboxing ace is looking to make his mark as a mixed martial artist and, 11 years after a loss on his professional MMA debut, he returned to the sport with one of the most replayed knockouts in recent memory as he starched Wilker Barros with a stunning 720-degree punch that has earned more than five million views on YouTube. The finish catapulted Daniels (1-1 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) to MMA stardom, but the American striker is taking it all in his stride.
“I was talking to my coach about that,” he told MMA Junkie ahead of his bout with [autotag]Jason King[/autotag] at Bellator 238 on Saturday night at The Forum. “People don’t understand that was me after a failed attempt from me 10 or 11 years ago. So if you were in my immediate circle you knew that was going to come to fruition. That was 10 or 11 years of built-up … I’ve got to get that one back! So that was awesome, and I was talking to my coaches and I’m like: ‘Man, how am I going to top that one?'”
Incredibly, Daniels’ spectacular finish from Bellator Europe 2 in Birmingham, England isn’t his best knockout. Even more remarkably, he described the finish as “basic.”
“I think that one was in my Top 5 knockouts that I’ve done,” he said. “But I just go out there and for me it’s a very basic thing, because I’ve been training it. But to other people it seems spectacular and it seems these are crazy moves, and it’s just mostly because you just don’t see anybody doing anything like that on a regular basis.”
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Daniels said that merely picking up the win against King (8-5 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) won’t be enough for him. Instead, he plans on producing another magic moment inside the Bellator cage that he hopes will outstrip the other big-name performers – not just in his own sport, but in others as well.
“I’m always planning on getting the win. Getting the win is already expected for me and for what it is that I do,” he said. “I plan on finishing it quickly and in a style that people haven’t seen before. I love the fact it’s (Cris) Cyborg’s debut. I love the fact that Conor (McGregor) fought last weekend. So therefore I can go out and show the world this is what I do, no one has a highlight reel knockout succession like I do, and no one has the knockouts in the ways and the fashions that I do.
“I love to have these big-name fighters on the card before me, or after me. I love that the Super Bowl is coming up, because I’m like: ‘OK, let’s see if I can go and go out-view the Super Bowl!’ But at the end of the day I like to go out there and have a good time.”
Another spectacular win will see Daniels catapult up the rankings in Bellator’s talent-filled welterweight division, and a string of victories could see him position himself for a shot at the division’s big names. He paid tribute to current 170-pound champion Douglas Lima, and said he’d love to one day share the cage with the man he believes is an “ideal champion” for the organization.
“As of right now I know people say I’m not there, and I know I don’t think I deserve that shot right at this moment,” he said. “But I will be (deserving) in the near future.”
Raymond Daniels at Bellator Europe 2.
Before he gets to Lima, he may find himself facing off against arguably the only other 170 pounder whose highlight-reel resume could compare to his own, British star Michael “Venom” Page.
When asked if a matchup with “MVP” interested him, he smiled: “Everybody always asks me that, and I think it’s because Mike and I both come from the same background. To be honest, I actually enjoy watching Mike, we’re actually really good friends. I wouldn’t necessarily go and call Mike out, but if we had to cross paths, Mike and I have fought each other before and we both know that we’re both competitors.
“I would love if we did fight for it to be a title fight or something like that, because it just makes it all the more exciting. But in the meantime there’s a lot of fighters for Mike to go there and fight, and a lot for me to go out there and fight. It would be interesting to see the difference in our styles in a new atmosphere, because what we did back in the day was a sport karate thing. This is a different arena, so I’m sure Mike wouldn’t turn down the opportunity. If it makes dollars, it makes sense!”
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But before he can set his sights on the likes of Page and Lima, Daniels says he needs a little more seasoning, and hopes to put himself within striking distance of the division’s best by the end of the year.
“Any organization that I’ve competed in, I’ve always risen to the top, I’ve always challenged for the title,” he said. “So I’m looking forward to rising to the top here. Now I’m actually having fun, and that’s when it gets scary … when I start to figure out the process.
“Even though I’m figuring this out, give me this fight (then) give me about two more fights, and I’m going to start coming for what I call the Top 10 of Bellator. The creme de la creme.
“I think the Bellator welterweight division is one of the strongest, toughest divisions in the world. I honestly get goosebumps thinking about how excited I am about having the opportunity to take a part in it.”
Boxer-turned-MMA prospect Ava Knight prefers to stay in her comfort zone.
LOS ANGELES – [autotag]Ava Knight[/autotag] freely admits she’s more comfortable inside the boxing ring than the Bellator cage, but she says the skills she brings from boxing will stand her in good stead in her MMA adventure.
Knight (1-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA), a former IBF flyweight boxing champion, will make the second appearance of her professional MMA career at Bellator 238 from The Forum against [autotag]Emilee King[/autotag], and “The Lady of Boxing” says she plans on making sure she isn’t dragged too far out of her comfort zone on Saturday night.
“The biggest lesson is I don’t ever want to be on the ground again,” Knight told MMA Junkie on Wednesday. “Not that I ever felt like I was in a place where I want to tap out or anything. But at the same time, I just want to be where I’m comfortable.”
To some, Knight’s admission that she doesn’t want to be on the mat could be taken as weakness, but she doesn’t see it that way. Instead, she used her desire to keep the fight standing to underpin her work in the gym as she prepared for her latest test.
“I practice not being somewhere I would hope that everything that I trained for is going to work, just like everyone else does,” she explained. “That worst-case scenario … my camp is based around what happens if that does happen. But at the same time, where I am comfortable is where I should be fighting my fight.
“All of my camps here on out are all going to be grappling. It’s the only thing I don’t know how to do, and it’s the only thing I should learn. But at the end of the day, it’s always (a good idea to) keep your strengths strong. At the end of the day, that’s what I want. That’s what I want to do, but we’re always going to be ready for whatever someone has to throw at me.”
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Knight, who has a 19-2-5 record as a pro boxer, won her professional MMA debut at Bellator 228 via third-round TKO, and has stayed busy since. She returned to her original sport of boxing and picked up a unanimous decision victory to extend her current unbeaten streak to nine in a row inside the squared circle. Now she’s set to return to the cage in a bid to kick off another undefeated streak with victory against King (3-3 MMA, 0-0 BMMA).
“I looked her up, and she just looks like a really happy girl that’s an athlete and really wants a fight,” Knight said. “I think she’s coming off three wins – I didn’t watch the videos. Whatever she has coming, my coaches have prepared me for it. I don’t like to psych myself out. I’m doing me, and I’m going to do that the best that I can, and she’s going to the best that she’s got to take me out, and I’m just going to be there.”
Unsurprisingly, Knight’s preferred route to victory involves her hands: “Of course! I punch hard, that’s what I want to do. I want to stick to that.” But she’s working hard on building up the newer aspects of the game, and said that she has a love-hate relationship with grappling that she hopes will help her progress in her second sport.
“I’m really happy with MMA, and I actually really like it,” she said. “And I really like what comes with it, and that’s just the respect in the sport, respect for women in the sport. Boxing is still a little behind. We’re doing a whole lot better, but we’re still way behind. So I’m really happy to keep progressing in this sport.
“I’m having fun grappling. I hate doing it, but I’m actually having fun learning something new. So it’s a good thing for me, and I’m happy to do MMA, at least for the next year, and just focus on that.”
As for the fight itself, Knight admits she’ll step into the cage with an experience disadvantage, but said she’s ready to do what she does best and find a home for her educated hands as she bids to capture her second straight victory as a mixed martial artist.
“Obviously she’ll be better at MMA than I am, but at the same time I’m here to win,” Knight said. “I don’t care how it happens. I could submit her – people don’t know what I’ve been doing – but at the same time I’m thinking I want to knock her out, I want to get a name for myself, I want to be a girl in this sport with heavy hands. And I’m proud to hold that title if I can get it.”
Check out all the facts and figures about Bellator 238, which takes place Saturday with a Julia Budd vs. Cris Cyborg title-fight main event.
The first Bellator event of the year goes down Saturday with Bellator 238, which takes place at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., with a main card that streams on DAZN following prelims on MMA Junkie.
In the main event, the only women’s featherweight champion in Bellator history, [autotag]Julia Budd[/autotag] (13-2 MMA, 7-0 BMMA), will attempt to continue her reign atop the division when she takes on her biggest test yet in former UFC champion [autotag]Cris Cyborg[/autotag] (21-2 MMA, 0-0 BMMA), who gets a title shot in her promotional debut.
The card also includes a matchup in the ongoing Bellator featherweight grand prix, as well as some other often-seen notables. For more on the numbers behind the card, check below for 30 pre-event facts about Bellator 238.
* * * *
Main event
Julia Budd
Budd’s only career losses came against current UFC bantamweight and featherweight champion Amanda Nunes and ex-titleholder Ronda Rousey.
Budd competes in her eighth Bellator featherweight bout, the second-most appearances in divisional history behind Arlene Blencowe (nine).
Budd enters the event on an 11-fight wining streak. She hasn’t suffered a defeat since November 2011.
Budd’s three consecutive Bellator title defenses are tied with Patricio Freire for second most among current champions behind Ilima-Lei Macfarlane (four).
Budd’s seven-fight Bellator winning streak is tied for the third-longest active streak in the company behind A.J. McKee (16) and Macfarlane (10).
Budd’s seven-fight Bellator winning streak in women’s featherweight competition is the longest active streak in the division.
Budd’s seven-fight Bellator winning streak is the second longest active streak among female fighters in the promotion behind Macfarlane (10).
Budd’s seven victories in Bellator women’s featherweight competition are most in divisional history.
Budd’s three stoppage victories in Bellator women’s featherweight competition are tied with Blencowe and Amanda Bell for most in divisional history.
Cris Cyborg
Cyborg can become the first in history to win titles in Bellator, UFC, Invicta FC and Strikeforce.
Cyborg can become the second in history to win titles in Bellator and UFC. Eddie Alvarez also accomplished the feat in the men’s lightweight division.
Cyborg makes her Bellator debut following a seven-fight UFC stint where she went 6-1 and held the promotion’s women’s featherweight title.
Cyborg’s four victories in UFC women’s featherweight competition are most in divisional history.
Cyborg outlanded her seven UFC opponents 460-148 in significant strikes.
Cyborg has earned 17 of her 21 career victories by knockout. She’s finished 10 of those wins in Round 1.
Co-main event
Darrion Caldwell
[autotag]Darrion Caldwell[/autotag] (14-3 MMA, 11-2 BMMA) is 5-0 in Bellator featherweight competition. He’s 7-0 in the weight class during his career.
Caldwell’s five-fight Bellator winning streak in featherweight competition is tied for the second-longest active streak in the division behind McKee (16).
Caldwell has earned five submission victories in Bellator competition. The company record is seven, which is currently held by Goiti Yamauchi.
Adam Borics
[autotag]Adam Borics[/autotag]’ (14-0 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) five-fight Bellator winning streak in featherweight competition is tied for the second-longest active streak in the division behind McKee (16).
Borics’ five-fight stoppage streak in Bellator competition is the longest among active fighters in the company.
Borics’ five stoppage victories in Bellator featherweight competition are tied for third most in divisional history behind McKee (11) and Patricio Freire (10).
Remaining main card
Juan Archuleta
[autotag]Juan Archuleta[/autotag] (23-2 MMA, 5-1 BMMA) was a three-division champion under the King of the Cage banner, holding titles at lightweight, featherweight and bantamweight.
[autotag]Sergio Pettis[/autotag] (18-5 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) makes his Bellator debut following a 14-fight UFC stint where he went 9-5.
Pettis earned all nine of his UFC victories by decision.
Pettis is the only fighter in UFC history to earn his first nine wins with the promotion by decision.
[autotag]Raymond Daniels[/autotag] (1-1 MMA, 1-0 BMMA), 39, is the oldest of the 12 scheduled main-card fighters.
Daniels was successful in his return to MMA competition after nearly 11 years when he won at Bellator Europe 1 in May.
[autotag]Ava King[/autotag] (3-4 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) is on a three-fight winning streak after starting her career 0-4.
Preliminary card
Aaron Pico
[autotag]Aaron Pico[/autotag] (4-3 MMA, 4-3 BMMA) is 4-2 since he dropped to the featherweight division in September 2017.
Pico has suffered all three of his career losses by stoppage.
Aaron Pico knows he’s stumbled on an expected road to glory, and that makes him all the more determined to get back in the win column at Bellator 238.
LOS ANGELES – [autotag]Aaron Pico[/autotag] put on a brave face in front of the public, but he’s ready to admit that privately, he had a very tough time bouncing back from high-profile losses.
The heavily hyped competitor, considered by many a future world champion, suffered back-to-back stoppage losses in a pair of fights he was winning against Henry Corrales and Adam Borics in 2019, and he would be lying if he said he wasn’t hurt by the brushback.
“When you’re on national TV and you get embarrassed, it (expletive) gets tough sometimes, and then a lot of people don’t realize how much work we put in,” Pico told MMA Junkie on Wednesday. “Us fighters put in so much time – our time, our family, our girlfriends, our everything.”
The talented featherweight has a strong support system, however, and used it to dust himself off and get his head back in the game.
“Luckily for me, my fans have been very, very good to me, and treated me well and it’s been positive: ‘Hey you’ll be back, you’ll be back,'” Pico said. “Of course you get the (expletives) who say stupid (expletive), that’s just normal, but it was really, really tough for me. But the only thing that (gets you through) is your family hears you out, lets you vent or whatever, and then you can’t just sit here and say ‘poor me, poor me.’ That (expletive) doesn’t get you anywhere. It really doesn’t. I wake up the next day, I’m in the gym, I’m getting better. That will either break you but I’ll tell you, I’ll never (expletive) quit. I’ll never (expletive) quit.”
With that, Pico (4-3 MMA, 4-3 BMMA) plans on going full steam ahead in 2020. He’ll meet Daniel Carey (7-3 MMA, 3-2 BMMA) on the undercard of Bellator 238 on Saturday night, and he’ll do so as a fully entrenched member of Albuquerque’s Jackson Wink MMA.
Pico says training with the likes of Greg Jackson, Mike Winkeljohn and Brandon Gibson at one of the world’s most decorated MMA gyms has made all the difference.
“They work day in and day out,” Pico said. “I’ve heard a lot of people say you don’t get the attention there. I get a lot of attention there. With the coaches, the one thing about them, if you show up for the practices and you want to become a better fighter, they’ll put the time in. It’s the people that, I don’t know the past and stuff like that, but I’ve just heard stories or whatever, but if you show up and you (expletive) get better, they’ll be there for you. I have nothing but good things, I feel good in the gym and outside the gym. The people there have embraced me and been excited about sharing their culture with me in Albuquerque.”
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Pico isn’t going to let himself entirely forget his stumbles, because he wants to remind himself how far he still has to go. But he’s confident about starting the next chapter in what’s already been an eventful career.
“There’s not really much to say other than, the hardest part is, I was winning those fights,” Pico said. “So it’s like, (expletive), damn, I was just so close, but, my last fight I was only with Jackson Wink six weeks. Now I’ve had seven months to prepare with the coaches there, and I feel like I have grown as a person and as a fighter. I’m amazed what I know now. What I know now looking back and thinking back to back then still, like, green, you know? And I still am green. But yeah, 2019 was a tough year for me, (expletive), sometimes I just gotta get back up and get back in the gym.”
Bellator 238 takes place Saturday at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif. The main card streams on DAZN following prelims on MMA Junkie.
To hear more from Pico, check out the video above.
