Freestyle Pico question....
- Thread starter Honduee
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Honduee, I could not find his exact age but in August of 2011 he placed 2nd at 50K (110#) in the Fila Cadet worlds. Fila rules for 2014 show that to be a cadet in 2014 you have to be born 1997-199. A junior has to be born 9/1/94 or after so he would have to be less than 18 as of this date. Aaron Pico is also 17 and he was announced as 17 in January of this year when he signed professionally. He would have been a sophomore in highschool this year in California but is taking correspondence courses and does not physically attend John Bosco highschool. Pico is every bit as old as Hasan Yazdanicharati. Both are 17 years of age.
I have read write-ups of the finals match which indicated it was close. That is not how I viewed the match. The Iranian dominated the match. He scored the first takedown on Pico and Pico tied it up 2-2. After that it was all the Iranian who scored three more takedowns and dominated the entire match. I'm a little tired of all of the hype given to Pico. He is good but with his boxing ability which he says is better than his wrestling he may be better suited to MMA.
I have read write-ups of the finals match which indicated it was close. That is not how I viewed the match. The Iranian dominated the match. He scored the first takedown on Pico and Pico tied it up 2-2. After that it was all the Iranian who scored three more takedowns and dominated the entire match. I'm a little tired of all of the hype given to Pico. He is good but with his boxing ability which he says is better than his wrestling he may be better suited to MMA.
If I am reading the USAW website the FILA Junior World Championships age limit is extended to birthdates anytime in 94-96 or 1997 with a med certificate (which could explain Pico wrestling as a 17 yo).
If the same age parameters applied in 2011, a FILA Cadet participant would have been born between 94-96 also. Yazdanicharati wrestled at 50kg in 2011, so he was probably young for the level. If I calculate right, he could be as old as 20 but probably closer to 18.
If the same age parameters applied in 2011, a FILA Cadet participant would have been born between 94-96 also. Yazdanicharati wrestled at 50kg in 2011, so he was probably young for the level. If I calculate right, he could be as old as 20 but probably closer to 18.
One other thing that I found interesting in reviewing the 2014 Fila and USA Junior rules on eligibility is that not only do they have to be born 9/1/94 & after but they have to be enrolled in grades 9-12. According to news articles Pico is still enrolled at Bosco but will be doing on line courses when his travelling schedule calls for it.
I watched it and Pico was just out-classed. Iran, Russia and the Russian satellite countries are just much better skilled than our American wrestlers. Pico was quoted as saying that he wished that we would switch to freestyle rules in high school and college so we could compete better internationally. I would be very much opposed to that. I do not mind adopting a few of freestyle's better rules like the penalty warnings which put the warned wrestler on the 30 second clock. I think this is a good rule. The push out rule is just dumb in my book and does not reflect a wrestler's skill in any way. Takedowns and back exposures with out control are another thing I do not like. High amplitude throws likewise as we would have a lot more accidents like Ray Murphy's if that happened.
I agree with your friend who indicated the Iranian was incredible. He was that and more but Pico has his own Freestyle coach who is Russian and he has trained under him for years so as Pico said in an interview, "He was just better than me".
I have lost total interest in Pico as he will never wrestle college so he is of no interest to me. Those of you like Honduee who follow MMA will be interested and I think he could be very good in MMA. No put down of MMA but it is just not my cup of tea. We have several great MMA fighters that are OSU alumni like Johny, Munoz, Cormier and others and I do not fault anyone watching them but if it ain't college wrestling I am not interested.
I agree with your friend who indicated the Iranian was incredible. He was that and more but Pico has his own Freestyle coach who is Russian and he has trained under him for years so as Pico said in an interview, "He was just better than me".
I have lost total interest in Pico as he will never wrestle college so he is of no interest to me. Those of you like Honduee who follow MMA will be interested and I think he could be very good in MMA. No put down of MMA but it is just not my cup of tea. We have several great MMA fighters that are OSU alumni like Johny, Munoz, Cormier and others and I do not fault anyone watching them but if it ain't college wrestling I am not interested.
I'm still pretty interested in Pico's journey. I was expecting the Iranian kid to be quite a bit older, but it doesn't sound like it. That's crazy. Good for international wrestling.
I also understand where you're coming from about MMA. It wasn't on my radar until Johny, Jake and Shane started. I really like watching fights now where wrestling is utilized and almost always cheer for the wrestler. It's absolutely the best base to have in MMA.....no doubt. I hope you can overlook a little MMA chatter.....I can't stand any MMA boards....just idiots. There are several folks here who are as knowledgeable as anyone. I also promise to keep it OSU related. In some form or fashion.
I also understand where you're coming from about MMA. It wasn't on my radar until Johny, Jake and Shane started. I really like watching fights now where wrestling is utilized and almost always cheer for the wrestler. It's absolutely the best base to have in MMA.....no doubt. I hope you can overlook a little MMA chatter.....I can't stand any MMA boards....just idiots. There are several folks here who are as knowledgeable as anyone. I also promise to keep it OSU related. In some form or fashion.
Honduee, I do not mind MMA chatter at all and I will always pull for an OSU MMA fighter. It may also help the collegiate wrestling programs as now some wrestlers have somewhere to pursue a career after college. It probably is the wave of the future and has gotten very popular. I'm an old fogey and just like my college wrestling but more power to MMA.
