UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi just lost a great main card fight.
No. 6 ranked Arnold Allen was set to face No. 13 ranked Aaron Pico in a featherweight contender’s match on the upcoming U.A.E. card on October 24th. Unfortunately, Allen won’t be in good enough condition to compete on the date. According to MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck, “Almighty” ‘has been rehabbing from past treatments, but not enough time between now and Abu Dhabi to be ready to fight.’
Rumors started swirling when fellow featherweight Losene Keita
suggested he might be stepping into a top 15 fight on short notice.
“Those are not your beans to spill!!!” Allen declared on X as people speculated on his health.
This fight against Pico was set to be Allen’s third fight of 2026, the first time since his Cage Warriors days in 2014 that he managed to get a trio of fights in. 2024 saw him compete twice, he had one fight in 2023, and two fights in 2022. He’s gone 4-3 over that times with losses to Max Holloway, Movsar Evloev, and Jean Silva.
2026 started with Jean Silva riding Allen like a surfboard at the end of their fight, not the way one wants to be remembered in a loss. But Allen bounced back four months later with a solid win over Melquizael Costa in the main event of a UFC Meta Apex card.
As for Aaron Pico, he’s gone 1-1 since arriving in the UFC in August 2025, with the sole loss coming to contender Lerone Murphy. No official replacement has been announced by the UFC to keep Pico on UFC 333, but we’re seeing a lot of chatter from fighters and camps that tells us the UFC is looking to keep him on the Abu Dhabi event with a new opponent.
We’ll keep you updated once we know more on the injuries that kept Arnold Allen from competing at UFC 333.
