Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images
Shane Kruchten was the veteran coming into Bellator 192 on January 20, 2018. He had a career record of 12-3 and last fought at World Series of Fighting (WSOF) 34 on New Year’s Eve in 2016, earned a win in an unaired preliminary bout against Jeremy Mahon. His opponent at The Forum in Inglewood, California would be the much hyped Aaron Pico, who despite that hype only had a .500 record in two fights thus far for Bellator MMA.
Things were starting to look up for Pico when he scored a first round knockout at Bellator 183, so it made sense to feature the kid from Whittier, California prominently on a “tent pole” card for the company. It made sense for Pico too as he vowed to “only fight the big dogs” on his way to the top, refusing to settle for tomato cans to make a name off of. With all that said neither of them could have imagined what happened next.
34 seconds into the first round, the former Golden Gloves boxer Pico unleashed a massive organ displacing left hook to the body. Years of experience over his opponent had not prepared Kruchten for this perfectly aimed shot, and he folded quicker than origami. Mike Beltran and his mustache wasted no time rushing in to stop the fight three seconds later.
Aaron Pico would have many ups and downs with the promotion in the years to come, but for one night in Inglewood, he looked exactly like the beast he was hyped up to be.
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