Aaron Pico has officially signed with the premier promotion after spending a few months as one of the hottest free agents in the sport.
After the PFL acquired Bellator at the end of 2023, many fighters’ futures in the promotion became unclear, with PFL continuing to run their season format.
One of those fighters was Aaron Pico, who is widely regarded as one of the best prospects at 145lbs across all promotions.
The 28-year-old has only fought once since the merging of the promotions and has now joined fighters like Kayla Harrison and Patricio Pitbull in leaving for the UFC.
Aaron Pico officially announces he has signed with the UFC
“After years of hard work, dedication, and unwavering belief, I’ve officially signed with the UFC,” Pico announced in a post on his Instagram.
“This is more than just a dream come true; it’s the beginning of a new chapter… The ultimate goal? To become the UFC champion. I’m ready to work harder than ever before to make that a reality,” he continued.
Earlier this week, rumors began to surface that Pico was going to debut immediately against number one contender Movsar Evloev.
Despite that, Evloev shut down the rumors recently, claiming that the fight isn’t happening and that he is instead going to wait for the culmination of the UFC 314 main event between Alexander Volkanovski and Diego Lopes.
However, Pico has revealed that the fight came very close to being agreed, claiming that it is a good sign that the promotion was going to throw him into the top five straightaway.
“It was real, I got a phone call from Ali (Abdelaziz) asking if I could fight on April 17, I said, ‘Of course, who am I fighting?’ and he said, ‘Movsar.’” Pico told MMAJunkie.
“That’s a great fight for me, I don’t think he knows how good my wrestling is, and he said Movsar agreed too. I was a little bit surprised, but ultimately, it’s not happening, but it was a good sign that they were entertaining the idea of fighting a guy so highly ranked,” Pico continued.
Who could Pico make his UFC debut against?
With the 28-year-old likely not fighting the Russian contender yet, fans are wondering who the Californian might fight in his debut.
Former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling has been vocal on social media regarding his next fight, claiming that he would like to fight on International Fight Week at the end of June.
Sterling is ranked inside the top 10, so the fight could make a lot of sense for Pico making his debut. Failing that, a fight against the number seven ranked, Arnold Allen, could also make sense with him looking for an opponent.
