Aaron Pico wants to become the best featherweight in the world, an honorific that is currently and authoritatively held by UFC champion Max Holloway. It’s not an irrational goal. As a teenaged, world-ranked freestyle wrestler and Golden Gloves boxing champion, Pico was preordained for greatness, described by coaches and talent evaluators alike as perhaps the top blue-chip prospect the sport has ever seen. Comparatively, Holloway was a nobody when he arrived on the scene, thrust into a short-notice fight as a late replacement.
It is largely forgotten that Holloway struggled in his early days in the big leagues.