Aaron Pico is continuing to evolve his skill set after collecting his first UFC win last week, and the former Bellator standout is drawing inspiration from one of the sport’s most dominant grapplers.
Pico (14-5 MMA, 1-1 UFC), who earned his first victory inside the Octagon at UFC 327 last Saturday with a win over fellow former Bellator champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, has been training alongside UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev, as well as lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan. The trio have been working together during strength and conditioning sessions under coach Sam Calavitta at The Treigning Lab.
Speaking with Submission Radio this week, Pico detailed some of the insights he has gained from observing Chimaev’s approach to grappling, particularly in the lead-up to his recent fight.
“Well, I've never grappled with him. Usually, most of the time, I just do conditioning with him,” Pico said. “But when he was showing me some moves before the fight and stuff, just how strong he is, but just his positioning.
“I mean, he can control you with his legs and just not even use his arms and just his lower body is just so strong. And just his level of detail with grips. So, okay, when do I bring my grip high? When do I bring it low? When do I trip the leg? And just his knowledge and detail was pretty impressive.”
Pico emphasized that while his wrestling base has long been a strength, refining the finer details—particularly control and positional dominance—has become a key focus as he transitions into the UFC.
“I was working on it a lot, trying to do the best I can and just holding guys down because my wrestling is very good,” he said. “And that's one thing I really want to put emphasis on is holding guys down and just doing damage.”
