Tom Aspinall’s teammate believes Alex Pereira turned down a chance to face the heavyweight champion

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There’s a major fight waiting for Tom Aspinall when he finally makes his way back to the Octagon.

Carlos Ulberg just picked up the belt left behind by Alex Pereira, who stepped up in weight to join the heavyweight ranks.

Pereira is now gearing up to face Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title, which is set as the co-main event at UFC 305 on June 14. A win there would line him up for a unification clash against Aspinall.

But according to one heavyweight champion, that fight might have already happened under different circumstances. Jon Jones has said that he could have ended up fighting Aspinall instead of Stipe Miocic, if not for a change in plans before UFC 295.

Phil De Fries believes Alex Pereira turned down a fight with Tom Aspinall

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Regardless of who comes out on top, Tom Aspinall’s return from injury would be huge if it involved a matchup against either Alex Pereira or Ciryl Gane.

In a recent chat with Bloody Elbow, Phil De Fries discussed the idea of Aspinall facing Pereira. The Polish MMA fighter returns to the cage on April 18 for his 14th defence of his KSW heavyweight belt.

When asked about the prospect of seeing Aspinall face Pereira in a clash between two massive names, De Fries said he believes this was something that could have already happened.

“I’m pretty sure, you know, Pereira’s been offered Tom and said no. I’m fairly sure that’s a fact,” he told {{LINK_EUROSPORT_1}}. “You never know, Pereira might take the belt and run away but I think Pereira sees Gane as an easier fight than Tom.

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

Pereira originally planned to move up to heavyweight last year but ended up sticking around at light heavyweight after dropping his title to Magomed Ankalaev in March. He only made the jump once he reclaimed his belt later on.

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