Aljamain Sterling still believes Aaron Pico ‘can still make some noise’ in the UFC despite debut loss

Aljamain Sterling still believes in Aaron Pico despite his debut loss at UFC 319.

Sterling, the former UFC bantamweight champion and now seventh-ranked featherweight contender, was paying close attention to the Pico vs Lerone Murphy fight at UFC 319. Sterling felt like Pico was looking good until he got knocked out, but his chin is a concern.

“100 percent, it was just one tactical error, and something he made a similar mistake in Bellator,” Sterling said to MMAJunkie. “He looked great, he looked like a world beater. There was one point where Lerone caught him with one clean shot, where it looked like he shot because he got hurt. I’m curious to see if he’s chinny.

“That elbow would have knocked anyone out, but does he have the chin to go with his fight style? He’s so aggressive,” Sterling said. “If he lands first, that’s the fight; if other guys catch him, I don’t know. But, I think he can still make some noise in the division. Pitbull lost his debut and came back and won his second one. We will see how Pathcy does, we will see how Pico bounces back.”

Sterling believes Pico has all the tools to go far in this sport and in the UFC’s featherweight division. But, he does worry about Pico’s chin and if he can handle the big shots.

Aljamain Sterling believes he’s closing in on a title shot

As for Aljamain Sterling, he’s set to return in the co-main event of UFC Shanghai on Saturday against Brian Ortega.

It’s a pivotal fight for the featherweight division and Sterling believes that with a win, he will be closing in on a title shot.

“Right now I think he’s ranked No. 4, I think I’m seventh or eighth. So, I think this is a big win for me to possibly get back into the top five. If I can do that, things are going to be looking pretty good for me to getting a title shot opportunity, probably at this point after Lerone Murphy. Then there’s Movsar (Evloev), then there’s Jean Silva vs. Diego, so there’s a lot of fun matchups happening at this weight class right now. I think for both Brian and I, this is one of those high-stakes matchups where winner takes all.”

Sterling is 24-5 as a pro and coming off a decision loss to Movsar Evloev.