2016 Olympic Trials runner-up Aaron Pico will make his much anticipated MMA debut at Madison Square Garden on June 24 at Bellator 180.

Pico, of course, had a stellar wrestling career, winning a Cadet World Championship and finishing silver and bronze at the Junior World Championships.

He has had experience in combat sports since a young age and has been eyeing a career in mixed martial arts for years. Pico has always trained hard, but some of his most recent training us very unique. I have never seen it before.

On May 19 Aaron Pico tweeted this clip of him doing some ab work at, what appears to be, a local park. And by ab work, I mean his trainers firing medicine balls at his midsection while he sits in a sit-up position the best he can.  

Medicine ball workout with @treigning_lab getting ready for MSG.. #BellatorNYC #MadisonSquareGarden @BellatorMMA pic.twitter.com/vPXEN5uuXo

— Aaron Pico (@AaronPicoUSA) May 20, 2017

Pico's opponent on Jun 24 will be Zach "The Altar Boy" Freeman, an mma veteran who holds a professional record of 8-2 with five submissions and one knockout.

20 year old phenom @AaronPicoUSA has his eyes on the gold. The journey begins June 24th at @TheGarden! #BellatorNYC pic.twitter.com/WV0RfeqlGE

— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) May 23, 2017

Aaron Pico was one of the most promising young wrestlers we had seen in the United States in some time. Get to know Aaron and follow along during his journeys through Turkey and Croatia in 2014.

In PICO, we follow along as Aaron makes his first jump up to the junior level, while still a cadet aged wrestler. The tournament took place in Izmir, Turkey and there was drama inside and outside of the arena as riots broke out in the city over political unrest.



Later that summer Aaron Pico was a member of the star studded Junior World Team that competed in Zagreb, Croatia. Get an all access look at some of the finest wrestlers in the United States today, including Kyle Snyder, Thomas Gilman and Gabe Dean, when they were up and coming.

WATCH: Prepared To Fight