Former Bellator star Aaron Pico has been setting his sights high when it comes to selecting an opponent for his UFC debut.
Pico (13-4), who recently secured his release from his PFL contract and signed with the UFC, had been rumored to be set to face Movsar Evloev at the UFC Apex on May 17th.
Evloev (19-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) currently sits joint-fourth in the updated UFC featherweight rankings alongside Yair Rodriguez, and Pico revealed recently that he had said yes to a fight against the ubeaten Russian, but that Evloev had rejected the offer.
"It was pretty close", Pico said last week while speaking to MMA Junkie. "I was a little bit surprised, but ultimately it's not happening. But it was a good sign that they were entertaining the idea of fighting a guy so highly ranked. For him, it was kind of hard because, you know, he's number four. I'm just coming in. I can understand why he probably got advice not to ultimately take it. But he did say yes, but I'm sure he got with his team and they said, 'What are you doing? Just wait.' So nothing but respect".
With that fight now unlikely to happen, Pico's focus has shifted to finding the right opponent to kick off his UFC career.
During an appearance this week on Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo's Pound 4 Pound podcast, Pico mentioned two more big names in the top ten of the 145-pound division that he'd like to face inside the Octagon.
"Well, to be honest with you, you guys know me, you know, everybody has their own style", the Jackson Wink MMA representative said. "Like, I'm gonna go and I'm gonna just smash everybody. But I want to look at it, like, very objectively. They offered me Movsar (Evloev). So, okay, I have a name now.
"So I look at Movsar and I said, 'well, who's he, who did he fight last?' He fought Aljamain Sterling. And then who was he supposed to fight? If I'm not mistaken, I think he was supposed to, I heard Brian Ortega. So I'm like, okay, well, give me a Brian Ortega or give me an Aljamain Sterling. You know, I have something to work with now. Aljamain (or) Ortega, let's go! If you guys are ready to fight."
