Renato Moicano says the UFC 319 co-headliner does not gauge fan interest.
Lerone Murphy (16-0-1 MMA, 8-0-1 UFC) vs. Aaron Pico (13-4 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will serve as the Aug. 16 co-main event at United Center in Chicago. The card is headlined by the middleweight title fight between champion Dricus Du Plessis and undefeated challenger Khamzat Chimaev.
Pico was originally scheduled to make his octagon debut against Movsar Evloev in this past Saturday’s UFC on ABC 9 co-main event in Abu Dhabi, but the bout was scrapped when Evloev withdrew. Pico hoped to have his fight with Evloev rebooked for UFC 319, but wound up drawing Murphy instead.
Moicano is not happy with fight serving as a co-main event on a big pay-per-view.
“UFC is not about being good, it’s about people wanting to tune in to watch,” Moicano said on his “Show Me The Money” podcast. “Like Tony Ferguson: eight-fight losing streak, and he was still in the UFC. This is not a sport, this is entertainment. If you’re very good, but nobody knows you, people don’t – I don’t want to watch. Because let’s be honest: I don’t know Aaron Pico. Call me a casual. Maybe I’m a casual. I think I watched him once in Bellator, and you got only the highlights on Instagram and stuff.
“I don’t know his game. I don’t know much about him. If it’s Evloev, people know Evloev. There’s controversy about Evloev because everybody is saying this guy should fight for the title next, and they don’t give the title shot to him. At least everybody knows about Evloev. Not many people know about Lerone Murphy, to be honest – not in the U.S. If you ask a casual fan, you say, ‘Hey, do you know Lerone Murphy?’ They don’t know.”
Pico was once one of the most highly touted prospects in MMA. He is on a three-fight winning streak with wins over James Gonzalez, Pedro Carvalho, and most recently a first-round TKO of Henry Corrales in February 2024. Meanwhile, England’s Murphy has won eight fights in a row, and is coming off a main event win over Josh Emmett in April.
