Aaron Pico didn’t wait long to pick his next target. A day after he stopped Losene Keita in the first round at UFC 333, MMA Sucka reported that Pico would like to fight Lerone Murphy, with the story framed around Pico serving as an alternate. I haven’t seen Pico’s own wording, so treat the alternate angle as MMA Sucka’s framing until he spells it out himself.
The finish on October 24 gave him the leverage. Pico opened by wrestling, then ended it with his hands. The MMA Guru wrote on X that Pico “PUTS KEITA ON SKATES WITH ONE CLEAN RIGHT HAND,” and called the early grappling a smart move. Spinnin Backfist went with a simpler review: “THATS A BAD DUDE.”
Pico is 15-5 and sits at No. 11 at featherweight in the Knockout Daily rankings. He fights out of Jackson-Wink MMA and spent his first 17 pro fights in Bellator before coming to the UFC. The wrestling résumé is the reason people have been betting on him since he was a teenager. He was the top-ranked high school wrestler in the country in 2014, a U17 world champion in 2013 and a 2016 Olympic alternate at 65 kilograms. Five losses is a lot of scar tissue for a guy with that pedigree, and anyone who backed him early has the receipts to prove it.
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Murphy’s record just changed
Murphy is 17-1-1 and ranked No. 10, one spot above Pico. If you still have him filed as unbeaten, update your notes. ACD MMA listed Murphy on X among the UFC fighters who lost their undefeated records in 2026, in a group with Ilia Topuria, Khamzat Chimaev, Movsar Evloev and Gable Steveson. That’s a rough year for perfect records. The draw on his ledger goes back to his UFC debut, a split draw with Zubaira Tukhugov at UFC 242 in 2019.
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Murphy last fought March 21, so he’s seven months out and coming off that first loss. Pico is coming off a highlight finish. A guy one spot down calling out the guy one spot up is the cleanest kind of callout there is, and for once the rankings back up the ask.
No opponent, date or line exists yet. When books hang a number on Pico vs. Murphy, watch the opener. Bettors have chased Pico’s wrestling for years, while Murphy’s lone loss is about seven months old.
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