Aaron Pico isn’t in the business of picking and choosing his fights.
After he was supposed to face Arnold Allen at UFC 333, and ultimately faced top prospect Losene Keita instead, Pico never lost any sleep about going from a ranked opponent to a newcomer with only two UFC fights on his resume. In the end, Pico delivered a vicious first-round knockout to improve his own UFC record to 2-1 and now he’s ready for the next step towards his ultimate goal of becoming champion.
Pico admits there are some ideal
opponents out there for him as he looks ahead to what comes next.
“I think anybody ahead of me in the ranking,” Pixo told MMA Fighting. “I’m definitely going to be watching the Aljamain [Sterling] fight very closely. That’s always a possibility. But Lerone Murphy, I’d love to fight him as well. I have no hard feelings against him other than he beat me, and I’d love to avenge that loss. I think fought I really dumb, and he got very, very lucky. But a lot of blessings came after that loss so I’m OK with it.
“We’ll see how the Kevin Vallejos and Aljamain Sterling fight goes and if everything goes smooth and no injuries with those guys, maybe that’s a possibility of fighting the winner of that. Can’t have that, I’d love to run it back with Lerone Murphy. We’ll have to see.”
Of course, Murphy scored a knockout win over Pico in his octagon debut so it’s understandable why that rematch offers so much interest to the former Bellator fighter.
That said, Pico makes it clear that he’s not in the business of turning down fights much less being that selective when it comes to his opponents.
Much like accepting the Keita fight with the knowledge that it was a high risk, low reward situation, Pico just doesn’t like the idea of picking and choosing his opponents even if the person he’s fighting doesn’t have a number next to their name.
“I’m just speaking honestly from the heart, I’m just going to let you know how I feel. I don’t really look at the rankings or anything like that,” Pico said. “Of course, I’m like oh this guy is No. 5 or this guy is No. 10. I’m truly in the mindset I’m after one thing and that’s to be the best fighter in the world and fight the best in the world.
“Of course, I have a manager and I let him handle a lot of things and I tell him ‘who do you want me to fight?’ and I always tell my family this, when I’m 60 years old in my rocking chair at my ranch, I want to be able to say I fought whoever they threw at me. I really don’t give a shit. Some guys are like ‘I can’t fight him because he’s No. 10 or No. 12 and I’m No. 4.’ I truly don’t even look at that.
Pico would love nothing more than to have the chance to climb up the featherweight ladder and eventually fight for the title but he’s not going to turn down fights just because an opponent doesn’t logically make sense.
“I’m of the mindset right now, I am a beginner and I’m trying to learn as much as I possibly can,” Pico said. “I know I have to fight the best guys in the world. Yeah, of course, it’s going to be a little bit scary. Of course, I’m a little bit nervous going into fights and training camps, but that just is what it is.
“I’m comfortable with that. If I fight a guy that’s not ranked, it just is what it is. I know if I have that mindset, the belt will come sooner than later.”
