J-W's Pico takes the next big leap in his MMA career

If someone had told Aaron Pico back in 2017 that eight years later he still wouldn’t be a champion in MMA, he likely wouldn’t have believed it. He wouldn’t have been alone.

But here he is, never a Bellator champion after 17 fights in that organization and, Saturday night, fighting in the UFC for the first time.

If he beats No. 6 featherweight contender Lerone Murphy on UFC 319 in Chicago, would that be enough to get Pico a shot at champion Alexander Vokonovski? Probably not. But, certainly, it would bring him a giant step closer.

“How would I describe my journey?” Pico, a California native who trains in Albuquerque at Jackson-Wink MMA, said at a Wednesday news conference. “Well, it’s been a tough one. I didn’t have an easy path to get here.”

No, he did not.

After having nearly made the U.S. wrestling Olympic team as a teenager, Pico — amid considerable fanfare — signed with Bellator, which threw him into deep water immediately.

Immensely talented but lacking experience, he lost three of his first seven fights.

He rallied impressively, using highly developed wrestling skills and his fast, powerful hands to win his next six fights — drawing ever closer to a Bellator title shot. But a shoulder separation suffered early in an October 2022 fight, leading to a loss to Jeremy Kennedy by TKO, set him back.

Again, he rallied — defeating James Gonzalez, Pedro Carvalho and Henry Corrales, the latter two by first-round TKO with ferocious ground-and-pound.

But as Bellator struggled as an organization, Pico set about negotiating his way out of his contract.

Finally, almost 18 months after the Corrales fight, his UFC debut has arrived. Originally scheduled to face No. 1 contender Movsar Evloev on July 28 in Abu Dhabi, he’s now matched against Murphy after Evloev withdrew due to an injury.

Just as Bellator did him no competitive favors back in 2017, nor is the UFC. Murphy brings a 16-0-1 record into Saturday’s fight, the co-main event — below a middleweight title fight between challenger Khamzat Chimaev and champion Dricus Du Plessis.

Pico wouldn’t have it any other way. At the ripe, old age of 28, he’s ready, willing and eager for whatever and whomever the UFC throws at him.

“It’s so surreal to be here, finally, after all the years of ups and downs, to be in a place where I’ve always wanted to be,” he said.

Pico related a conversation he’d had with his 4-year-old son, Valentino, after signing with the UFC.

“When I told him, ‘Dad’s gonna fight in the UFC on TV,’ he said, ‘Wow, Dad, you’re finally a professional.’

“And I said, ‘Yeah, Dad’s finally a professional.’”

Murphy’s response has been, essentially, welcome to the big leagues, kid.

“I believe it’s going to be a great fight,” Murphy, a native of Manchester, England, said in an interview with the website cardplayer.com. “I think it’s probably the toughest matchup I’ve had stylistically ... but I think I can find holes (in Pico’s game) and I believe I’m going to come out victorious.”

“.. And I want to finish him.”

Of course he does. But finishing his opponents — only two of his 13 victories have gone to the judges — has been what Pico does best.

Asked at Wednesday’s news conference to finish the sentence, “Don’t blink, because,” Pico responded:

“Left hook’s coming.”

As of Friday afternoon, oddsmakers saw Pico as a minus-250 betting favorite, meaning a wager of $250 on Pico to win would produce a profit of $100.

Murphy was listed at plus-205, meaning a wager of $100 on the Englishman to win would produce a profit of $205.