Aaron Pico says he hasn’t joined the UFC to make up the numbers.

The former Bellator fighter, once considered to be among the brightest prospects in all of mixed martial arts, is now an official member of the UFC’s featherweight division after recently signing a multi-fight deal with the Las Vegas-based fight league — and the 28-year-old says that a UFC title will be his prime motivation once he sets foot in the Octagon for the first time.

“I’m just such a competitor, that I’m like, ‘You think they’re the best? Wait until I get there and I show there’s a whole different level.’ I just want that opportunity,” Pico told Henry Cejudo and Kamaru Usman in a recent episode of their Pound 4 Pound podcast, as noted by MMA Fighting. “We want that UFC belt. I want to go in the history books.

“I will say this, I wrote down a goal — and I wrote this down maybe eight or nine months ago — and I said I want to be UFC champion by 2026,” he added. “That’s what I said. And I believe I can really do that. If they give me the fights, I go in there and do my job.”

Pico debuted with Bellator in June 2017 on the back of stellar collegiate wrestling background which saw him narrowly miss out on the 2016 US Olympic team. Separately, Pico had competed in amateur boxing since the age of 10.

And now that he’s in the big leagues, Pico is forecasting some stern challenges. Including one against a former UFC champion.

“[Brian Ortega] or Aljamain Sterling, somebody like that,” he said. “I say go straight to the title. I want the title. If I get a good knockout, why not fight for the title?”