Aaron Pico is reportedly set to make his UFC debut against Movsar Evloev in May.
The 27-year-old was one of the faces of Bellator for nearly a decade. Having signed with the promotion when he was a teenager, Aaron Pico struggled a bit upon his debut. The featherweight was 4-3 at one point in his career, with all of his losses coming by way of finish. However, in 2020, Pico turned things around, and he never looked back.
The hard-hitting 145-pounder is currently 9-1 in his last ten bouts, last knocking out Henry Corrales in February. Following that victory, Aaron Pico was hoping to earn a title shot against then-Bellator champion Patricio Pitbull. However, due to scheduling issues, the bout was never made. In January, Pitbull parted ways with the PFL and quickly signed with the UFC. He’s now expected to meet Yair Rodriguez later this month in Miami, in a possible title eliminator.
Now it appears that Aaron Pico will be joining Pitbull in the UFC. As first reported by Red Corner MMA on X, the former Bellator featherweight contender has signed a deal to face Movsar Evloev next month in Las Vegas at the Apex. As of now, the promotion, nor Pico, has confirmed his signing. However, the 27-year-old reportedly became a restricted free agent earlier this year.
Awesome
For his part, the Russian last appeared in the octagon at UFC 310 in December. There, Movsar Evloev scored the biggest victory of his career against former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling, handing ‘The Funk Master’ a unanimous decision loss. While he hoped to secure a title shot with the victory, he was instead passed up in favor of Diego Lopes. Now, Evloev will have the opportunity to welcome Aaron Pico to the promotion later this spring.
As of now, the UFC Vegas 106 card is still being built out. However, here’s how the event stands as of now:
Featheweight bout: Movsar Evloev vs. Aaron Pico
Women’s Bantamweight bout: Luana Santos vs. Tainara Lisboa
Light Heavyweight bout: Paul Craig vs. Rodolfo Bellato
Flyweight bout: Carlos Hernandez vs. Park Hyun-sung
Women’s Strawweight bout: Tecia Pennington vs. Luana Pinheiro
Middleweight bout: Nursulton Ruziboev vs. Dustin Stoltzfus
Lightweight bout: Gabriel Green vs. Matheus Camilo
LOL they really putting this in the Apex?
Glad to see Pico where he belongs, and this is a very interesting fight.
Getting an undefeated top 5 guy in your debut is a hell of an opportunity.
damn.
Throwing him to the wolves from the jump
Awesome.
Hes still young, hope he pulls it all together
According to Pico, Evloev verbally agreed and then backed out.
Not all that surprising. Top 4 guy on the cusp of a title shot and he was facing an incredibly dangerous, largely unknown (to the general UFC audience) prospect who can derail him.
On the plus side, UFC clearly sees Pico as a guy who can be thrown into the deep end right away, which he absolutely can. Since we all know rankings really don’t mean shit for getting a title shot, Pico can easily be challenging for a belt with 1-2 impressive wins.
He just needs a Pico gram to stay relevant.
Pico vs Aljamain makes sense
He should debut on a big PPV, ideally in a squash, much like Chandler did. How’re you going to waste a possible champion and star on a basic ass Apex card that nobody will watch?
He’s a Chandler type of fighter, I can’t wait
I didn’t even know he got released from his contract.
Pico + Greg Jackson = UFC gold
I still think he can beat anyone at FW if he puts everything together
Let’s try this again, shall we?
A Welterweight bout between No. 8-ranked Gilbert Burns vs. No. 12-ranked Michael Morales has been rebooked as the main event of UFC Vegas 106, which is scheduled for May 17 inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. Initially, the bout was discussed in 2024. The first official dated targeted was UFC 314 (that’s today!) before being pushed back to UFC 315 for unknown reasons. Now, it’s off pay-per-view (PPV) entirely, but at least the fighters have an additional pair of rounds to show off their skills.