\n<\/p>\n
Featherweight Aaron Pico was supposed to be fighting Arnold Allen this Saturday at UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi, but the MMA Gods weren\u2019t having it.<\/p>\n
With Allen out of the fight, it will instead be Losene Keita stepping in, a former Oktagon champion who will make this a battle of two stars who built their names elsewhere.<\/p>\n
Pico (14-5), of course, is best known for his Bellator MMA run, and is now 1-1 under the UFC banner. As for the change in opponents, while it\u2019s disappointing he\u2019s no longer fighting a top five foe, Pico has found an upside.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, Arnold Allen was in the top five, so when I\u2019m looking at it from that perspective, of course I was a little bit bummed. That really puts you in a good position, if you win that fight, for a title,\u201d he admitted during this week\u2019s UFC 333 media day.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut one thing that I can say about my new opponent, he\u2019s so big in Europe. When I told people when I was fighting Arnold Allen, of course a lot of people know who he is, but I think the fans, from a stylistic perspective, were happy with Keita. And people are more eager to see that. Because you\u2019ve seen his fights, he\u2019s a knockout artist, and he\u2019s young. So it doesn\u2019t matter as far as where I stand. I just want to fight, I want to get more experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
It might sound strange for Aaron Pico to be looking for experience 19 fights into his pro career. However, having been finished in his UFC debut by a Lerone Murphy spinning backfist, Pico changed his mental approach to fighting.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter my debut, I came with the mindset that I want to have a beginner mentality. I want to learn, I want to get as much experience as I can, and that\u2019s the way I\u2019m approaching this fight,\u201d he stated. \u201cIt\u2019s just another Fight Week for me, another walk into the cage, another fight, and this is all adding up to experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pico believes that he needed to be humbled, but it has nothing to do about attitude. Rather, it\u2019s about how he was fighting. \u201cI was fighting just too out of control,\u201d he admitted. \u201cWhen I would go into a fight, the mindset was, I just want to get this thing over. I just want to go in there to do what I have to do, get the win and go home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since his debut, Pico has worked with his coaches to \u201cswitch the mindset a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNow I want to go in there, and I want to enjoy. I want to cook the fight a little.\u201d That means adding \u201ca little salt, a little pepper. I don\u2019t want to just blast the heat and let it go. Just cook the fight, enjoy, use all your skills, and have fun. The mindset before was getting me in trouble, especially with the high-level competition as you can see in my UFC debut.\u201d<\/p>\n