LOS ANGELES – Hot on the heels of his last win, Daniel Carey 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 Aaron Pico 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?”
