All things considered, Aaron Pico's first professional fight in June was one of the most disastrous first impressions this sport has ever seen.
The 20-year-old prospect, who signed with Bellator MMA when he was 18, lasted just 24 seconds into a heavily-hyped debut at Madison Square Garden. Journeyman Zach Freeman clipped Pico with a right uppercut and tapped him moments later with a guillotine choke.
An MMA debut literally years in the making took less than half a minute to unravel. For what it's worth, Pico says it didn't take him long to make peace with it.
"I wouldn't change a thing about it," Pico told ESPN. "That's 24 seconds in the cage that I didn't have before. I rushed in too fast and got hit with an uppercut. I need to be more relaxed and get settled next time. That's what happened, and that's life. I wanted that fight in Madison Square Garden and I enjoyed it."
Pico (0-1), of Whittier, California, makes his sophomore appearance at Bellator 183 this weekend. He'll face Justin Linn (7-3) on Saturday at SAP Center in San Jose. The bout will be contested at featherweight.
If you expected things to slow down for Pico following the loss in June, think again. His training still features opportunities many prospects only dream of. He worked regularly with boxing coach Freddie Roach this summer and was part of world champion boxer Miguel Cotto's most recent camp.
One specific change Pico wanted to make, however, is the addition of a head MMA coach, which he found in Antonio McKee.
Pico believes he has developed individual disciplines -- boxing at Wild Card gym in Los Angeles, jiu-jitsu with Eddie Bravo at 10th Planet -- but needed an MMA mind to bring it all together. McKee fought professionally for 15 years.
"That's something I was missing, 100 percent," Pico said. "I have all the disciplines, but I needed someone to help me blend it all together -- that coach you see every day who helps you game-plan and focus on MMA. Because MMA, as you know, is its own sport. You need to perfect your timing and everything else involved."
Many observers felt Pico was mishandled in June, taking on a 33-year-old veteran in the pressure-cooker environment of New York. Bellator has several other prospects it is in the process of grooming -- and none of them debuted under those circumstances.
Pico will face another veteran on Saturday, as Linn, 28, has been fighting professionally since 2010. Pico made it clear he wanted and signed off on both opponents.
"Everybody thinks they have an answer," Pico said. "If the Dallas Cowboys lose, everyone is saying they should have done this or that. Everybody makes their own decisions based on what they think is best. I have done what I thought was best and I'm the boss. I wanted my first fight in Madison Square Garden. I said I would fight Zach Freeman.
"If anybody says Bellator or my management should have done something different, they're going to say that anyway. I know the truth, that it was all my decision."
Pico, who came within one win of making the U.S. Olympic wrestling team in 2016, says he doesn't feel added pressure going into this second fight.
That said, he admits he has only watched the loss to Freeman once and doesn't plan on revisiting it anytime soon. Perhaps by Saturday it will be a distant memory.
"I watched it immediately after in the dressing room, but I haven't seen it since," Pico said. "I know what happened and I don't really want to watch it again.
"From the beginning, this whole thing has been about being a champion. That's what I'm doing this for, to be the best in the world. People have things to say, and they can keep saying them because I'm not really listening. If you like me or hate me, it's motivation either way."