UFC featherweight contender Aaron Pico has zero interest in attending to unfinished business with one former Bellator champ.
Aaron Pico is days away from making his highly-anticipated UFC debut this Saturday at UFC 319 against Lerone Murphy. In a potential No. 1 contender fight, Pico and Murphy will clash in a short-notice booking in the UFC 319 co-main event.
Pico, one of the biggest UFC signings in recent years, will look to send a message to the rest of the featherweights in his first Octagon appearance. After falling short of a Bellator title during his long stint, he’s laser-focused on making a UFC title win become a reality.
In addition to his preparations for UFC 319, Pico has kept a keen eye on the man he used to chase in the Bellator featherweight division. Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire is 1-1 since his UFC signing earlier this year, and called out Pico to settle unfinished business in their new promotion.
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Aaron Pico shuts down Patricio ‘Pitbull’s callout following UFC 318
Despite Pitbull’s recent callouts, Pico doesn’t have any interest in granting Pitbull’s desired fight, regardless of what transpires this weekend in Chicago.
During a recent interview with CBS Sports‘ Shakiel Mahjouri, Pico responded to Pitbull’s latest callout following UFC 318.
“I saw his first fight live, didn’t watch his last one…I’m not really interested in [fighting him],” Pico said.
“He had many opportunities to fight me in Bellator and I asked to fight him for a whole year straight, and for some reason it never happened. I’m very happy that it didn’t because I beat Patricio ‘Pitbull’, I win the championship, and I’m locked in [in the PFL].
“He had every opportunity to fight me but then now he’s saying ‘Oh I want to fight him, I want to fight him’, but we’re just completely different right now. I’m not focused on him, I’m focused on fighting for the championship.”
Pico was supposed to fight Movsar Evloev earlier this year at UFC Abu Dhabi before Evloev withdrew due to injury. As of this writing, a timeline for the undefeated featherweight’s return to the Octagon is uncertain.
If Pico is victorious this weekend at UFC 319, he could earn the next title shot against Alexander Volkanovski. Meanwhile, Pitbull earned his first UFC win over Dan Ige at UFC 318 last month to earn a spot in the Top 15.
Jon Jones praised Khamzat Chimaev’s ‘character’ ahead of UFC 319 title shot
Ahead of UFC 319, Khamzat Chimaev garnered high praise from one of the all-time greats. Chimaev will face UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis in the UFC 319 main event after an unbeaten run inside the Octagon.
Jon Jones praised Chimaev’s ‘character’ after the undefeated middleweight labeled Jones the scariest fighter in UFC history. Jones retired in June but has since announced his intentions to return to the Octagon next year on the UFC’s planned White House card.
If Chimaev is victorious this weekend, he’ll move one step closer to taking Jones’s former place in the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings.