Aljamain Sterling still sees potential in Aaron Pico after UFC 319.
Pico (13-5 MMA, 0-1 UFC) lost his octagon debut when he was knocked out by a Lerone Murphy (17-0-1 MMA, 9-0-1 UFC) spinning back elbow in Saturday’s co-main event at United Center in Chicago. Pico now has been knocked out in four of his five professional losses, which Sterling finds concerning, but thinks the 28-year-old has the skillset to rebound.
“One hundred percent,” Sterling told MMA Junkie of Pico bouncing back. “I think it was just one tactical error, and something he made a similar mistake in Bellator. I don’t know how he did that again, but this time I feel like that one was way worse. I don’t know. I have to go back and see the other knockout, but they were both bad. But again, he looked great, he looked like a world-beater. There was one point where Lerone caught him with one clean shot where he looked like he shot in because he got hurt. So, I’m a little bit curious to see if he’s chinny.
“That spinning back elbow would have probably knocked anybody out, but yeah, that was always my question mark. Does he have a chin to go with his fight style? Because he’s so aggressive and if he lands first, that’s the fight. But the other guys catch him, you don’t know. But I think he can still make some noise in the division. I mean, ‘Pitbull’ (Freire) lost his debut, came back, and won his second one. We’ll see how Patchy (Mix) does, and we’ll see how Pico bounces back. It’s all about the mental aspect of it.”
Though the fight didn’t last long, Pico was able to land two takedowns and out-strike Murphy before getting caught at the 3:21 mark of Round 1.
