While, on paper, it may seem like Piccininni has run through the competition without issue, he did run into some early adversity in his December Fury FC bout against Freddie Rodriguez.
He was dropped with a left hook less than one minute into the fight, but was never nervous and quickly recovered.
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“He caught me with a clean shot. I exited the pocket sloppy and that’s what happens. It didn’t rock me too bad. I stumbled and got knocked back, but I didn’t have any blurriness.” Piccininni said.
Up until that point, Piccininni had largely dominated his competition without breaking a sweat. His third professional fight went the distance, but the two before that were wrapped up within one round. He easily got his opponents to the ground and drowned them, so being dropped in the first minute of the fight was an unfamiliar feeling.
Despite the adversity, Piccininni demonstrated an iron mentality, and takes positives out of the experience.
“I think that was good for me. It’s never good for that to happen, but now I get to feel certain things and I’ve been there and felt it,” Piccininni said. “I’m happy I got tested and now I know how I’ll react when things go wrong. I’m better today because of that.”
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Although many young fighters would have panicked in that moment, Piccininni remained calm and never lost his focus.
“I was just on to the next. Now it’s about the next exchange. I didn’t let it phase me” he said.
That mindset paid off. Less than two minutes after being knocked down, Piccininni got up, secured a takedown of his own, worked his way into full mount, and locked up an arm triangle to win the fight.
Piccininni transformed from a fighter in trouble, to a fighter effortlessly winning the fight within seconds, providing major legitimacy to those who have bought into his rising stock as a prospect.
And if you ask Piccininni, this fight is going to make him even more dangerous going forward.
“It’s a confidence builder to know you can go through these things,” he said. “Obviously you never want to be put in these positions, but fighting that adversity early in the round and getting the finish in the first, I think that’s a positive thing for me,” he said.
