Aaron Pico would’ve loved to face the undefeated Movsar Evloev in his UFC debut, but that matchup will have to wait.
Pico was slated to face Evloev in the five-round co-main event of UFC Abu Dhabi in July, but Evloev was forced to withdraw from the bout for undisclosed reasons. There were rumors floating that the bout would be rebooked for this Saturday’s UFC 319 event in Chicago, but Pico is now facing Lerone Murphy in the co-headliner.
Since the announcement, there’s been a lot of speculation about why Evloev isn’t competing: Is he injured? Did the UFC pull Evloev from the Pico matchup to face Alexander Volkanovski for the featherweight title? Pico was asked about what he, or his team, may have been told.
“To be honest with you, I don’t really want to air out what he has going on or anything like that,” Pico told MMA Fighting. “That’s not my job, but honestly, what I can say is that he had a very good reason to not fight me. I understand why he pulled out and I’m glad that he didn’t take the fight because he wasn’t doing good. It wasn’t because he was scared or he was this or that. He had a very valid reason not to fight.
“So I just want to tell Movsar that nothing but respect [for you]and I want him to come back completely healthy. And fighting is one thing and we get so back and forth [with] I’ve got to fight this guy, but the most important thing is our health, and I want to fight him when he’s at his best. I wish him nothing but the best. But I don’t want to give the reasons or anything like that.
“And I want the fans to know that this guy wasn’t ducking me and he wasn’t scared or anything like that. Because Movsar is the No. 1 contender in the world.”
Pico, a longtime Bellator standout, signed with the UFC after parting ways with PFL earlier this year. Pico’s signing was revealed prior to UFC 314 in April, and the booking with Evloev was announced shortly after. Saturday marks the first time Pico competes in a mixed martial arts bout in 18 months. In his most recent appearance, the 28-year-old stopped Henry Corrales in the first round at PFL vs. Bellator in February 2024.
Now that he’s facing Murphy, Pico had to make a mental shift, especially with how he looks at the fight game from a preparation standpoint.
“I was in training camp for two months, so I was focused on Movsar,” Pico explained. “I mean, he was embedded in [my] daily life. You get to know the guy. Movsar, you say his name every single day, you watch tape on him. It’s like an actor preparing for a role. You get into that mode and you’re like, ‘I got to do this, I got to do that,’ and I was preparing for one guy.
“I mean, getting out of bed, you’re thinking about, ‘I got to go train because I’m going to fight this tough guy from Russia named Movsar. When you’re a little hungry and you’re like, ‘Man, I got to make weight because I have to fight him.’ So he’s he’s ingrained in your daily life. You feel like you know him. I was getting to the point where I was like, ‘Shoot, I feel like Movzar is part of the family.’
“So then when you find out that you’re not going to fight him, you kind of go down a little bit cause you’re preparing. But I understand it’s part of the sport and the UFC assured me that they’re going to rebook me fast. Hunter Campbell did a great job and got me to fight Aug. 16.”
