Aaron Pico News

Harry Kettle - April 9, 2026

UFC newcomer Aaron Pico has explained his embarrassment over his debut defeat to Lerone Murphy last summer. At UFC 327 this weekend, Aaron Pico will attempt to pick up his first win under the Ultimate Fighting Championship umbrella when he takes on fellow Bellator alumni Patricio Pitbull.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - April 6, 2026

Patricio “Pitbull” Freire believes that Aaron Pico has one-punch knockout power, but he can easily be sparked out. Freire and Pico are two Bellator veterans who will be sharing the Octagon at UFC 327 on Saturday. They will throw leather in Miami on a card headlined by a vacant light heavyweight title fight between Jiri Prochazka and Carlos Ulberg.

Dylan Bowker - March 20, 2026

Aaron Pico vs Patricio Pitbull is a fight that long-time Bellator MMA fans will finally get to see transpire, albeit in a UFC cage, with a former Bellator stalwart thinking the loser of that bout will receive their UFC walking papers. The combatant in question is Adam Borics who battles AJ McKee at PFL Madrid on March 20th. Borics has a competitive history with both aforementioned fighters in the Bellator MMA cage with the Hungarian falling short to Patricio Pitbull in a featherweight title bout but securing a win over Aaron Pico. When asked for his thoughts on the Aaron Pico and Patricio Pitbull fight at UFC 327 on April 11th, Borics said [via Bowks Talking Bouts],

Dylan Bowker - December 30, 2025

Aaron Pico has largely been fairly dormant on social media since his knockout loss in his UFC debut, but some training-centric video footage has been posted online from him for the first time in months. At UFC 319 in August, the former Bellator MMA standout entered the UFC as a highly hyped debutant. But Pico wound up on the bad end of a highlight reel when Lerone Murphy connected on a spinning back elbow that generated one of the big striking-based highlights of the calendar year. There have been some posts to his social media accounts since the rough Summer setback, which have largely touched on Pico’s personal life more so. But it seems like the hungry, young talent is peeling back the curtain again to give the public some semblance of a glimpse into what his training looks like these days. 💪🔥 Aaron Pico posts his first training video after the UFC 319 knockout pic.twitter.com/XcW8hF1vUM

Dylan Bowker - August 29, 2025

Aaron Pico had a fairly tumultuous UFC debut in Chicago earlier this month when he was felled with a viral spinning back elbow, with a former opponent of Pico’s weighing in on that contest. Jeremy Kennedy offered up his viewpoint on that fight ahead of his return to Battlefield Fight League as Kennedy vies for the BFL interim lightweight title against Jeremy Henry at BFL 84 on September 4th. Kennedy secured a win over Aaron Pico under the Bellator banner when Pico lost via first round shoulder injury at Bellator 286 in October 2022. When touching on the UFC debut that Pico had against Lerone Murphy at UFC 319 and how all of that played out there, Kennedy said,

Fernando Quiles Jr. - August 29, 2025

Don’t expect Aaron Pico to return to the Octagon in 2025. Pico made his UFC debut against Lerone Murphy inside the United Center in Chicago. The UFC 319 co-main event was a pivotal bout in the featherweight division. Pico was knocked out in spectacular fashion by a spinning back elbow in the opening frame.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - August 22, 2025

A main card UFC Shanghai fighter has some guidance for Aaron Pico. Pico entered his UFC debut with some buzz, but he was thrown to the wolves immediately. The former Bellator and PFL standout shared the Octagon with Lerone Murphy in the UFC 319 co-headliner. Pico ran into a spinning back elbow that shut his lights off. One criticism of Pico throughout his career has been over aggression, and it cost him once again.

Dylan Bowker - August 20, 2025

Tim Elliott is able to bask a bit in the glow of a big win in Chicago, but Aaron Pico did not have the same stroke of luck on August 16th. At UFC 319, both Elliott and Pico entered the cage on the same night but exited the octagon with dramatically different outcomes. Elliott fought against former UFC title challenger and former Rizin titleholder Kai Asakura and, as one of the bigger betting underdogs on the card, secured a submission win in the waning moments of the second stanza.

Cole Shelton - August 18, 2025

The UFC was in Chicago, Illinois, on Saturday, August 16, for a solid UFC 319 card. The main event saw middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis defending his belt against Khamzat Chimaev. The co-main event saw Lerone Murphy taking on newly signed Aaron Pico. Ultimately, it was Chimaev who dominated Du Plessis in all five rounds as he controlled him on the ground for a lopsided win to become the new champ. In the co-main event, Murphy scored a stunning first-round highlight-reel KO win. Following UFC 319, here is what I think should be next for the stars of the event.

Harry Kettle - August 18, 2025

UFC newcomer Aaron Pico has released a statement in the wake of his nasty knockout loss to Lerone Murphy. As we know, there was a great deal of hype surrounding Aaron Pico ahead of his debut in the Ultimate Fighting Championship this past weekend. The overwhelming expectation was that if he could defeat Lerone Murphy, he would set himself up for a world title fight against Alexander Volkanovski. Alas, that isn’t quite how things panned out.

Chris Taylor - August 16, 2025

We have you covered for all of tonight’s UFC 319 results, including the featherweight co-main event between Lerone Murphy and Aaron Pico. Murphy (17-0-1 MMA) was most previously seen in action this past April, where he scored a unanimous decision victory over former title challenger Josh Emmett. ‘The Miracle’ won all five of his most recent Octagon appearances by decision, with his last finish coming in October of 2021, when he knocked out Makwan Amirkhani.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - August 14, 2025

Could Lerone Murphy and Aaron Pico be fighting for a crack at UFC gold? The two will collide in the co-main event of UFC 319 on Saturday. Pico was initially linked to a showdown with Movsar Evloev, but he will instead get another unbeaten contender in Murphy. As far as the stakes of the matchup are concerned, Murphy doesn’t buy into the rankings talk.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - August 13, 2025

Alexander Volkanovski has caught wind of a marquee UFC 319 fighter’s comments. Now that Volkanovski is a two-time UFC Featherweight Champion, he once again has a slew of challengers waiting to face him. The UFC recently signed former Bellator and PFL standout Aaron Pico, who believes he will eventually share the Octagon with Volkanovski. Pico told MMAFighting that he will inevitably take Volkanovski out.

Fernando Quiles Jr. - August 12, 2025

Alexander Volkanovski is used to having a target on his back, and one UFC 319 fighter has fired a warning shot. Volkanovski regained the UFC Featherweight Championship when he defeated Diego Lopes for the vacant gold back in April. “The Great” is now a two-time 145-pound titleholder, but his next bout hasn’t been made clear. While rumors of a title defense against Yair Rodriguez surfaced, the UFC has yet to make Volkanovski’s challenger official.

Chris Taylor - July 26, 2025

Aaron Pico will be competing in the co-headliner of next month’s UFC 319 pay-per-view event in Chicago, Illinois. Pico (13-4 MMA) was originally slated to make his highly anticipated Octagon debut against undefeated featherweight contender Movsar Evloev (19-0 MMA) in this afternoon’s UFC Abu Dhabi co-main event. Unfortunately for fight fans, Evloev suffered an injury and was forced to withdraw from the contest.

Harry Kettle - July 21, 2025

MMA veteran Patricio Pitbull has called for a fight against Aaron Pico in the wake of his victory at UFC 318. As we know, Patricio Pitbull picked up the first win of his Ultimate Fighting Championship run on Saturday night with a win over Dan Ige. While it may not have been the flashiest performance in the world, he certainly did enough to get his hand raised – and even though he’s now in his late 30s, he seems pretty set on trying to make a run for the title.

Cole Shelton - July 14, 2025

UFC Abu Dhabi has taken a massive hit next week as Movsar Evloev is out of his upcoming fight. Evloev was supposed to take on Aaron Pico in a pivotal five-round co-main event at featherweight at UFC Abu Dhabi on July 26. The fight was likely set to determine the next featherweight contender, but the fight is now off.

Harry Kettle - June 23, 2025

Former Bellator star Aaron Pico appears to be in amazing shape ahead of his UFC debut against Movsar Evloev. For the longest time now, fight fans have been wanting to see Aaron Pico make the move over to the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Next month, it’ll finally happen. He will be stepping into the lion’s den as he prepares to go head to head with Movsar Evloev, and if he wins, there’s a very real possibility that a title opportunity will be on the horizon for him at featherweight.