Aaron Pico steps into the Etihad Arena on Saturday for a featherweight bout against an opponent he did not expect to face a few weeks ago. Arnold Allen‘s withdrawal opened the door for Oktagon veteran Losene Keita, a late replacement with an unusual path from Guinea to the UFC.
A late change for Pico’s UFC 333 bout
Aaron Pico was originally booked against Arnold Allen on the UFC 333 main card. Allen withdrew because of an ongoing rehabilitation, according to American reporting. Aljamain Sterling reportedly turned down a short notice offer before Losene Keita accepted the fight right away. Directly, I said, let’s go, Keita told reporters. Pico chose to stay on the card rather than wait for another opponent to be lined up. The fight now opens the main card, ahead of a night built around two title bouts in Abu Dhabi.
Pico’s own road back to the win column
Pico, 30, of Whittier, California, turned professional after an amateur wrestling career that included a 2013 under 17 world title at 143 pounds (65 kilograms) and a runner up finish at the 2016 United States Olympic trials. He also won the 2014 Henri Deglane Grand Prix on the senior circuit before turning to mixed martial arts. He went 13-4 over four years in Bellator, where he was cast as one of the promotion’s top prospects, before signing with the UFC in April 2025. His UFC record stands at 1-1: a first round knockout loss to Lerone Murphy at UFC 319 in August 2025, followed by a unanimous decision win over Patricio Pitbull at UFC 327 in April 2026.
Who is Losene Keita
Keita was born December 30, 1997, in Conakry, Guinea. He left the country around age 11, spent time in Paris, and settled in Kortrijk, Belgium, where he holds citizenship (he also holds French citizenship, according to his biography). As a teenager he was repeatedly involved in street fights and spent four months in juvenile detention. He has said the turning point came when he saw his mother cry during a prison visit. A friend who had seen him fight on the street later brought him to a gym, introducing him to a sport nobody in his family had practiced before. He fought twice a week while still playing soccer, then had his first amateur bout about two months later.
A two division champion before reaching the UFC
Keita turned pro in 2019 and joined Oktagon MMA in 2021, where he won the lightweight title with a TKO over Ivan Buchinger in June 2022, added the interim featherweight title in April 2023, then the vacant featherweight title in December 2023 with a knockout of Niko Samsonidse. A December 2024 tournament win returned him to the lightweight title, making him the first fighter in Oktagon history to hold two titles at the same time. His overall professional record stands at 17 wins and 2 losses, with 11 of those wins coming by knockout or TKO.
A rough UFC debut, then a statement in Paris
His UFC signing was announced in August 2025. A planned debut against Patricio Pitbull fell through after he missed weight at 149 pounds (67.6 kilograms), three pounds over the featherweight limit. He finally debuted on March 21, 2026, in London, losing a split decision to Nathaniel Wood. He bounced back on September 5 at UFC Paris, knocking out Muhammad Naimov in the first round, then jumping over the cage to celebrate from a front row seat. Saturday’s bout is only his second UFC appearance, and his first on a numbered pay-per-view card.
What Pico expects on fight night
Pico has studied his new opponent closely since the change was made. The obvious is he’s a power puncher, swings really, really hard, and he’s very, very good, he said of Keita. He said he is more focused on improving against different styles than on chasing a ranked name, with the featherweight title as his long term goal. Keita, who says he has never been finished on his feet, is entering his 20th professional fight hoping a win puts him in the division’s top 15, even without the Lerone Murphy fight he had originally wanted. The bout opens the main card, ahead of Alexander Volkanovski defending his featherweight title against Movsar Evloev and Petr Yan meeting Merab Dvalishvili for the bantamweight title in their trilogy fight. Full fight results will be posted on our UFC results page.
