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Highly touted featherweight competitor Aaron Pico recently voiced his displeasure with PFL chairman Donn Davis for not granting him his full release from the promotion. He noted that there is a clause in his contract and expressed interest in joining the UFC.
The 28-year-old is the latest top ranked competitor to request a full release from the PFL as reigning Bellator bantamweight champion Patchy Mix also made a request. Pico has been a highly sought after fighter throughout his career due to his skillset, entertaining fighting style and highlight-reel knockouts.
During his latest conversation with MMA journalist John Morgan, the young phenom opened up about his status as a free agent and possibly joining Dana White's UFC. Pico made it clear that he had no desire to remain in the PFL and mentioned that he had a matching clause when he signed his Bellator contract, which Davis has refused to waive:
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"I am a free agent, but there's just one clause in my Bellator contract, it's the right to match...So any offer I receive, PFL has the right to match. And I want to be just very, very upfront. I don't want to fight in the PFL. I don't want to fight in Bellator. I want to fight in the UFC. Donn Davis won't give me my full release. It's like, come on now, man. Just do what's right and give me my full release. So I'm waiting on an offer from the UFC and that's where I want to end up."
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Check out Aaron Pico's comments below:
Aaron Pico explains why he didn't go public earlier
In addition to voicing his frustrations and expressing interest in joining the UFC, Aaron Pico explained why he didn't go public earlier.
Former Bellator featherweight champion Patricio 'Pitbull' Freire was successful in having his release granted, but others weren't. During the aforementioned clip, Pico mentioned that he didn't want to voice his frustration earlier because he preferred to deal with it behind-the-scenes but also noted that it's the reason he has been inactive:
"I haven't been very vocal on Instagram and things like that because that's really just not my style. Everybody gets their emotions out in a different way. Me, I just call up who I need to call up and figure out and get the facts. So, that's been my situation the last year...I've been pretty much handcuffed."
Check out a clip of Aaron Pico's first knockout win below:
