Tom Aspinall’s teammate says Alex Pereira turned down a proposal to fight the heavyweight champion

An enormous fight will likely be waiting for Tom Aspinall once he’s capable of return to the Octagon.

This past weekend, Carlos Ulberg won the belt that Alex Pereira vacated with the intention to move up a weight class to affix the heavyweight division.

Pereira is currently preparing to face Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title within the co-main event of the White House card on June 14.

While a win for ‘Poatan’ would arrange an enormous title unification, a heavyweight champion claims that we could have already seen him face off with Aspinall.

Alex Pereira is the GOAT if he beats Ciryl Gane. 🐐

‘Poatan’ bids to change into the primary three-weight UFC champion on the White House on June 14. 🏆🏆🏆

Phil De Fries is ‘fairly sure’ Alex Pereira turned down a fight with Tom Aspinall

No matter who wins, Tom Aspinall fighting Alex Pereira or Ciryl Gane once his eyes are fully recovered is a large matchup for him to come back back to.

Bloody Elbow recently spoke in regards to the Brit’s return to his teammate, Phil De Fries, who returns on April 18 to make the 14th defense of his KSW heavyweight title.

When asked in regards to the prospect of seeing Aspinall face Pereira in a clash of two of the UFC’s hottest names, De Fries suggested that this feature was previously on the table.

“I’m pretty sure, , Pereira’s been offered Tom and said no. I’m fairly sure that’s a fact,” he said. “You never know, Pereira might take the belt and run away but I feel Pereira sees Gane as a better fight than Tom.

“Obviously I feel Tom’s higher than Gane but I’m not saying that because someone’s higher, I feel it’s just stylistically people match up higher. But, that’d be great for Tom.”

De Fries is backing Pereira to win the interim heavyweight title as a consequence of the matchup that awaits him on June 14.

Given each men’s recent timelines, it isn’t clear when the UFC would have pitched a fight between Pereira and Aspinall, if what the KSW titleholder says is true.

‘Poatan’ originally intended on moving as much as heavyweight last yr, but losing his light heavyweight title to Magomed Ankalaev in March meant that he stayed at 205 kilos until he was capable of win it back.