Aaron Pico hasn’t fought since a win over Henry Corrales on the PFL vs. Bellator: CHAMPS occasion again in February 2024. And after getting screwed round with a number of combat affords that by no means materialized, he sounds fairly over being a PFL fighter.
Pico is certainly one of many Bellator fighters who ended up using the bench after PFL purchased the promotion. In accordance with him, the promotion provided him three fights in 2024, none of which materialized. Now that his contract is full he’s asking the promotion to waive an identical interval so he can go away for the UFC.
“I’m ready for a proposal proper now from the UFC, however, it may very well be as much as a yr,” Pico instructed MMA Junkie. “So it may very well be two years of [no] preventing.”
Love Aaron Pico, rising star fighter and nice particular person. To be clear @PFLMMA is NOT holding him again, Pico as free agent can signal TODAY with @UFC, after which #PFLMMA can determine whether or not to match supply. That’s customary MMA contract Pico signed and the way MMA business works for everybody. https://t.co/6Hp5EhAoxX
— Donn Davis (@DonnDavisPFL) February 18, 2025
“The one one holding this up, and I’m gonna simply say it very, very blunt, is [PFL president] Donn Davis,” Pico continued. “Donn Davis can simply give me my launch and say, ‘You’re free to go to true free company and check and see what’s the most effective match for you,’ and that’s that. However like I mentioned, he doesn’t wanna do this, and I do not know why.”
The standout freestyle wrestler made it clear that there was no belief left with the PFL head.
“I don’t wanna combat for you, truthfully,” Pico mentioned. “It’s thrice you canceled on me, and never even a telephone name to say, ‘Pay attention, that is what now we have occurring. I do know we mentioned it within the airport in Saudi Arabia that you simply had been gonna combat for the title in in California. These are the explanations, blah blah blah.’ However not even a telephone name. So I don’t belief him.”
“I’m certain he’s an amazing man, however that is enterprise. Now we’re speaking about enterprise, and now you’re messing with me and the way I make a a dwelling for my son. And it’s not cool.”
Appears to be like like Aaron Pico went on a full media tour asking for his launch.
I hope he will get his launch. A 28-year-old expertise like him shouldn’t be sitting on the sidelines. He needs to be preventing 2-3 instances a yr.
To inform him to his face you had been going to get him fights, then ghost…
— Carbazel MMA (@Carbazel) February 18, 2025
Davis replied to Pico’s interview over X (previously Twitter), stating their proper to match any combat supply for the subsequent yr wasn’t unreasonable.
“To be clear, PFL is NOT holding him again,” Davis claimed. “Pico as free agent can signal TODAY with UFC, after which PFL can determine whether or not to match supply. That’s customary MMA contract Pico signed and the way MMA business works for everybody.”
Davis is appropriate that matching clauses are fairly frequent in MMA. What’s not frequent is sitting a fighter on the bench for a yr whereas stringing them together with bouts that by no means come collectively. It’s one thing the promotion did with quite a few Bellator fighters, and that has torched the PFL’s ‘fighter pleasant’ popularity that took years to construct.
