Pico calls for Murphy rematch after UFC debut KO loss: 'I know I can beat him'

Aaron Pico has made clear he wants a second crack at Lerone Murphy following his first-round knockout loss on his UFC debut at UFC 319, insisting he was in control of the fight before being stopped by a spinning back elbow.

Pico, who made the move to the UFC from Bellator, was dropped by Murphy’s highlight-reel finish in the opening round — a result that handed the Englishman his 17th professional win. But the American is far from satisfied with how the story ended.

“I want that fight,” Pico told MMA Junkie. “And people are gonna ask me, ‘Why do you want that fight?’ I’m a competitor; I want to fight and get that one back. I mean, obviously, you watch the fight, I was beating him up. I would have just been a little bit smarter and would have gotten that win. But there’s a lot of lessons that came because of the loss. And that’s the reason that I would love to run it back. And why wouldn’t I? He’s Top 5 in the world, so it just puts me closer to fighting for a title and I know I can beat him.”

Pico (15-5) has not let the defeat derail his momentum, bouncing back with consecutive wins over Patricio Freire and Losene Keita to re-establish himself in the UFC featherweight division.

Murphy, meanwhile, has hit a stumbling block of his own. The Manchester-based fighter (17-1-1) suffered the first loss of his professional career in a featherweight title eliminator against Movsar Evloev after his win over Pico, which may make a rematch a more realistic proposition for both men as they look to rebuild their routes to a title shot.

For Pico, the logic is straightforward: Murphy remains a top-five featherweight, and a win in a rematch would immediately thrust him back into the upper tier of the division. Whether the UFC moves to book the fight remains to be seen, but Pico’s intentions are unambiguous.