Aaron Pico Makes Featherweight Statement With Opening-Fight TKO In Abu Dhabi

Aaron Pico Makes Featherweight Statement With TKO© Instagram

Aaron Pico stopped Losene Keita by TKO at 1:14 of the first round Saturday night at UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi, and the manner of it mattered as much as the result. A takedown early, a right hand that changed the complexion of the round, and then ground strikes until the referee pulled him off. Seventy-four seconds of work, clean and total. The fight came together as a replacement. Pico had been booked against Arnold Allen, a top-ten featherweight whose withdrawal reshuffled the card weeks out. Keita was not an easy substitute. He held titles at 145 and 155 pounds in Oktagon MMA and entered at 1-1 in the UFC, the same record Pico carried in. Keita stuffed the second takedown attempt and looked composed for a moment before the right hand landed. He went down, turned over, and did not get a chance to recover.

Pico's UFC run started poorly. Lerone Murphy knocked him out with a spinning back elbow in his promotional debut, a loss that raised real questions about whether his Bellator finishing ability would translate at this level. Two wins later, those questions look different.

The Finish

Pico got the takedown about 20 seconds in. Keita worked back upright and stuffed the follow-up attempt, and for a moment it looked like the fight was evening out. Then Pico landed the right hand. Keita went down, rolled to his belly, and the follow-up strikes brought the stoppage before he could do anything about it.

What He Said After

Pico called for a rematch with Murphy and went after ranked fighters he described as “ranking squatters,” suggesting anyone dodging fights should be pulled from the rankings for a year. The rebooked Allen matchup is still a logical next step. At 2-1 in the UFC and finishing opponents this convincingly, Pico has made the argument for a ranked fight harder to dismiss than it was 74 seconds before the card even got going.