Aaron Pico does not feel overshadowed by the Bellator MMA debut of fellow prospect Dillon Danis.

Bellator MMA has done a fantastic job introducing mixed martial arts some of the brightest prospects in the sport. One of the names on the top of the list is featherweight blue-chipper, Aaron Pico.

After losing his professional debut to Zach Freeman at Bellator NYC, Pico has responded with two of the most painful and memorable knockouts in organizational history over Justin Linn and Shane Krutchen. Next Saturday night, the 21-year-old will look to make it three in a row when he faces 26-fight veteran Lee Morrison at Bellator 199. The event takes place at the SAP Center in San Jose, CA and airs on the Paramount Network.

While Pico continues his ascension up the Bellator featherweight rankings, another prospect had his chance to shine bright last weekend. Dillon Danis made his Bellator, and MMA debut to open up the Bellator 198 main card against Kyle Walker. Danis, the multi-time jiu-jitsu world champion, took some big punches early, but in the end, was able to secure a toehold submission 1:38 into the opening round.

Danis also told FanSided MMA prior to the bout that he “is a different type of prospect” than Pico, and all of the other prospects Bellator has brought into the organization. Not only that, Danis stated that neither of them was on his level; something Pico takes an exception to.

“I didn’t watch it live but I did see that he got that leg lock,” Pico told FanSided MMA of Danis’ debut. “I think that — yeah, he can think what he wants. I think that a lot of the attention that he’s gotten is because he’s on Conor McGregor’s nuts and I think a lot of people will say that I’m right. On the ground, absolutely. I’m sure he’s very, very good. As far as being an overall fighter, we haven’t seen it yet. But hey, I wish him nothing but the best, but a lot of his attention has come from Conor McGregor.

“Like I said, he can think what he thinks but when but when he gets into some big fights, we’ll have to see.”

Pico has continuously battled veteran fighters with winning records in the early stages of his mixed martial arts career; from Freeman (10 fights) to Linn (10 fights), to Krutchen (15 fights) and now Morrison next Saturday. Morrison has won his last four fights, all finishes, as he prepares to take on Pico on the biggest stage of his career.

Pico is aware of Danis’ potential, especially due to his jiu-jitsu pedigree and wants folks to know that, at least for now, there is no comparison.

“He fought a guy that’s 2-4,” said Pico. “Fight a guy with a winning record and we’ll see. Put your money where your mouth is. Me? I fight guys with winning records, guys that are older than me, tougher challenges. When he fights guys with winning records, then we can have that discussion. Other than that, he can’t even be mentioned in the same sentence as me.”