Aaron Pico has spent his entire mixed martial arts career as a Bellator MMA fighter but will make his UFC debut this weekend against Lerone Murphy in the UFC 319 co-main event.
The featherweight standout has been sharing an amusing anecdote this week in Chicago, explaining that when he told his four-year-old son he was going to be fighting in the UFC on TV, his son said: “Wow, dad, you’re finally a professional!”
Of course, Bellator was a professional organization that over the years housed many of the sport’s top talents, however the defunct promotion could never offer the same type of exposure a fighter can get when competing for the UFC brand.
“I always had a feeling I would be here. I just didn’t know when,” Pico told Sportsnet earlier this week.
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The 28-year-old from Whittier, Calif., signed with the UFC back in April after parting ways with the Professional Fighters League, the organization that acquired and enveloped Bellator late in 2023. Pico fought only once after that merger and was one of the frustrated Bellator fighters openly asking to be granted his release by the PFL.
Pico (13-4) began his MMA career as a blue-chip prospect in 2017 following a credentialled amateur wrestling career plus success as a boxer being a national Junior Golden Gloves champion in his teens. Things didn’t go as planned in MMA early on, though.
He lost his first pro fight as a lightweight before moving down to the 145-pound division. Pico strung together four consecutive first-round knockout or TKO wins before suffering back-to-back knockout losses to Henry Corrales and Adam Borics in 2019 that slowed his progression and tempered expectations.
Pico has gone 9-1 this decade since those losses with his lone defeat during that stretch being due to a shoulder injury. His most recent fight saw him avenge his prior loss to Corrales when Pico returned the favour with a first-round TKO.
That win over Corrales was all the way back in February of 2024, so between the extended layoff and the fact he’ll be dealing with a significant step-up in competition, it’s a mystery what Pico will look like in the Octagon this weekend at the United Center.
Saturday’s co-main event came together on relatively short notice. Pico was originally scheduled to face Movsar Evloev at the July Fight Night card in Abu Dhabi several weeks ago but that bout was cancelled after Evloev sustained an injury that will keep him out of action for the foreseeable future.
Pico was instead paired with another undefeated featherweight contender.
Murphy is 16-0-1 in his pro career and the only time he didn’t emerge victorious was in his UFC debut in 2019 when he accepted a fight on short notice at UFC 242 against Zubaira Tukhugov, the fighter who was known for jumping into the cage and attacking Conor McGregor at UFC 229 the year prior. Murphy was on vacation when he accepted that matchup and had to cut more than 30 pounds to make the 145-pound weight limit. He made weight and the pair eventually fought to a split draw.
Since then, the 34-year-old from Manchester, England has won eight consecutive outings including impressive wins over Dan Ige and Edson Barboza in 2024 and a five-round decision victory over Josh Emmett in their Fight Night main event four months ago.
Murphy has gone the distance in more than half his pro bouts and in all of his past five outings, while Pico has only gone to a decision on two occasions.
Stylistically, this is an interesting clash between two well-rounded fighters.
“This is a No. 1 contender fight in my eyes and a lot of other people are saying that as well,” the No. 6-ranked Murphy told Sportsnet.
Despite being new to the organization, Pico also views this matchup as essentially a title eliminator.
Pico said his perfect path to a title shot would be a rather direct one. The first step would be to have a successful UFC debut by becoming the first fighter to defeat Murphy, doing so in dominant fashion such that the UFC brass would immediately want to put him in a title fight against current champion Alexander Volkanovski – ideally in December, Pico added.
The UFC’s featherweight division is in an interesting spot and facing a bit of a reset at the moment, with Volkanovski back to being champion after winning the vacant title in April when he beat Diego Lopes at UFC 314. The championship was previously vacated by Ilia Topuria, who became champ by beating Volkanovski before eventually moving up in weight and winning the vacant lightweight title in June.
Pico has gone on record saying he believes he’d knock Volkanovski out if they fought and the reigning titleholder responded by saying he’d “mop the floor with” the former Bellator MMA star.
If Pico does emerge victorious at UFC 319, he’ll buck the recent trend of high-profile Bellator stars underwhelming in their UFC debuts.
Earlier this year, former Bellator champions Patricio “Pitbull” Freire and Patchy Mix each debuted in the UFC but underperformed in decision losses to Yair Rodriguez and Mario Bautista, respectively.
Volkanovski does not have his next opponent lined up just yet, so how Murphy vs. Pico unfolds could have a significant ripple effect throughout the featherweight division.
