Arnold Allen Scratched From UFC 333 Clash With Aaron Pico

The MMA gods demand a blood sacrifice for every major pay-per-view, and today they came to collect. According to MMA Fighting, Arnold Allen has officially been scratched from his highly anticipated UFC 333 clash with Aaron Pico.

If you were looking forward to this featherweight banger, you have full permission to stare blankly at a wall for the next ten minutes. This was supposed to be the ultimate heat check for Pico against an established top-tier contender.

"MMA Fighting reported the scratch via X (formerly Twitter)."

UFC 333 is touching down at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on October 24. The card is already carrying the massive Alexander Volkanovski and Movsar Evloev title fight at the top of the marquee, but losing Allen takes a massive bite out of the main card's depth.

Sportsbooks had to immediately pull the lines off the board for this one. Betting on a Pico fight is usually an exercise in holding your breath until someone goes to sleep, and matching him up with a durable, high-output striker like Allen was a dream scenario for action junkies.

For Pico, this is a brutal momentum killer. He was finally getting the massive spotlight opportunity he has been chasing since he was a teenage prodigy. Now, he is left in limbo while the promotion scrambles to salvage his training camp.

Finding a short-notice replacement willing to fly halfway across the world to fight a guy with Pico's wrestling and knockout power is like asking someone to volunteer for a car crash. We will see if the UFC can pull a rabbit out of a hat to keep him on the Abu Dhabi card, or if this whole matchup just gets punted to a winter Fight Night.