UFC 333 results: Aaron Pico finishes Losene Keita in 74 seconds

Aaron Pico now has a UFC finish to his name.

In a fight many believed would end quickly, Pico (15-5 MMA, 2-1 UFC) was on the dishing end of a knockout to Losene Keita (17-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC) at UFC 333 on Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. The end of the main card featherweight bout came at 1:14 of Round 1.

After surviving some early wrestling, Keita ate a right hand on the chin that had him all sorts of wobbled. Keita stumbled backward and crashed to the canvas. Pico swarmed, and as Keita turned belly-down, he finished the fight with punches.

"Honestly, it feels amazing," Pico said in his in-cage interview with Daniel Cormier. "This guy was very confident coming into this fight, and I told my coaches, 'After this fight, he's going to wish he put on the wrestling shoes at four years old.' I wanted to go back to my roots and be smart, and I know if I do that, I become a world champion.

"If you're asking me what I want, I want to fight for a title. But if that can't happen, I want a rematch with Lerone Murphy. And all these guys that are sitting on their ranking, not wanting to accept fights, backing out of fights – they need to be benched for a year. It's crazy. I call them rankings squatters. They just stay there. That's all they care about. No, let's fight. I want to make money, and I want to get to the title."

Pico, 30, has now won back-to-back fights. After a knockout loss to Murphy in his promotional debut, Pico defeated Patricio Freire by unanimous decision in April.

Keita, 28, falls to 1-2 in the UFC. He replaced the injured Arnold Allen opposite Pico, taking the fight on short notice days after a big knockout win against Muhammad Naimov.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 333 results include:

Aaron Pico def. Losene Keita via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 1:14