Henry Cejudo sees UFC title in Aaron Pico's future, calls for Murphy rematch

Henry Cejudo likes what he saw out of Aaron Pico at UFC 333.

Pico (15-5 MMA, 2-1 UFC) finished Losene Keita (17-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC) in just 74 seconds on this past Saturday’s main card at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

Pico has always been dubbed as a future champion, but went through several ebbs and flows that have prevented him from living up to his potential. However, with two-straight wins, Cejudo thinks Pico is on track of reaching his goal.

“A patient Aaron Pico will become world champion,” Cejudo said on his Instagram. “A lot of people are not seeing the patience that this guy has. It’s something that he’s always damn needed, but a lot of people are not talking about a little bit of what he did against the cage to be able to soften his opponent up. First, he started to wrestle, then all of a sudden, he was using his chain wrestling.

“But I’m going to tell you what people did not see. This was the beginning of the end: It was that crazy left hook. How is it that he was able to catch his opponent? He had him against the cage, but it was right here: As he released, boom! That left hook struck, and you can tell his opponent was wobbly. Yeah, he was kind of composed to some matter, but at the same time, the right hand ended up coming in and that is all she damn wrote. Aaron Pico, that is two in a row, two out of Morocco.”

Pico called out several top featherweights for sitting on their ranking. Cejudo wants to see Pico avenge his UFC debut loss to Lerone Murphy, which came by knockout.

“What’s next for Aaron Pico? He made it clear: Nobody wants to fight him,” Cejudo continued. “No Aljamain (Sterling), no Arnold Allen, but there’s somebody he wants that he has on his damn hitlist, and that is Lerone Murphy. Dana White, Hunter Campbell, give him that damn rematch.”

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Henry Cejudo sees UFC title in Aaron Pico’s future, calls for Murphy rematch