UFC, Aaron Pico and Lerone Murphy
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Pico (13-5 MMA, 0-1 UFC) took the fight against featherweight replacement opponent Lerone Murphy (17-0-1 MMA, 9-0-1 UFC), who stepped in for Movsar Evloev on just about three weeks' notice. He had won nine of his past 10 Bellator fights before that promotion was shuttered by the PFL, and the one loss was from an injury.
Find out if three record-breaking performances were enough to lift an otherwise mundane UFC 319 card to the top half of the grading curve.
Among the most prominent to send Pico a message was former lightweight and pound-for-pound king Islam Makhachev, who had words of encouragement for the newcomer after a devastating first outing under the UFC banner. “Head up champ,” Makhachev commented.
The UFC paid out more than $300,000 in Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay to the veteran-heavy UFC 319 lineup.