Aaron Pico won his fight at UFC 333 on Saturday, then spent part of his post-fight press conference going after a man who wasn’t in the building. Pico accused former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling of turning him down multiple times, and he widened the complaint to the ranked featherweights he believes are choosing comfortable matchmaking over actual fighting. MMA Junkie first reported the remarks.
Pico described how one of the proposed Sterling bookings fell apart. “For example, Aljamain, I was supposed to fight him, and they said it doesn’t make sense for me to fight because he’s ranked No. 11,” Pico said. “I just don’t get that thought process. If you’re not a champion, the goal is to be a champion, so it doesn’t matter if you fight No. 11-ranked or a guy that’s not ranked. You’re just fighting. I’ll fight anybody. That’s just my mindset. I think it’s a weak mentality for these guys.”
He didn’t stop at Sterling. Pico was originally booked against Arnold Allen at UFC 333 before Allen withdrew with an injury, and Pico said he couldn’t say for sure what happened there, allowing that Allen may simply have been hurt. Then he turned his attention to the top of the division. “Some of these guys just sit on the rankings, and I don’t know if they feel good walking around town saying, ‘Oh, I’m No. 5,’” he said. “I’m embarrassed I’m No. 11. I’m not a world champion.”
Where everyone stands
Pico is now 15-5 overall and 2-1 in the UFC after stopping Losene Keita on the main card. Keita leaves at 17-3 overall and 1-2 inside the Octagon. The one loss on Pico’s UFC ledger belongs to Lerone Murphy, who spoiled his promotional debut in 2025, and Pico made it clear he’d happily run that one back.
Sterling already has other plans. He was recently booked against fellow contender Kevin Vallejos at UFC Fight Night 294, which takes him off the table for now no matter how loudly Pico calls for the fight.
Pico laid out his wish list without much hedging. “I’ll fight Aljamain Sterling. I’ll fight Lerone Murphy,” he said. “I’ll fight anybody in the top five. I just want to get fights and get closer to the championship.”
Quick take
Pico has earned the right to be annoyed, though the Sterling piece of this is complicated by the fact that Sterling now has a real opponent with a real date. The broader point lands harder. Pico has been a name since long before he signed with the UFC, carrying the kind of expectation that can crush a young fighter, and he has answered it by taking whatever gets put in front of him, including a short-notice replacement after Allen fell out. A guy sitting at No. 11 saying he’s embarrassed by it is the right attitude for someone who wants a belt. The fastest way to settle it is the Murphy rematch. Murphy is the one man in the division who has actually beaten him under the UFC banner, and Pico just said, on the record, that he wants him.
