Alex Pereira vs. Tom Aspinall, anyone?
Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Alex Pereira finds himself at a bit of a crossroads in his illustrious combat sports career.
After four title wins in less than a year, Pereira lost his world title to Magomed Ankalaev by decision at UFC 313 in March. There’s no telling if we’ll get an immediate rematch between the two as the current champion Ankalaev has suggested ‘Poatan’ wants a break from fighting.
Pereira, 38, could potentially move up to the heavyweight division as he has talked about before, recently stepping on a scale at 247 lbs.
UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall says Pereira ‘knew what he was doing’ with his weigh-in.
Tom Aspinall reacts to Alex Pereira weighing in at 247 lbs
Aspinall has eyed a fight with Pereira since UFC 300 last year, where he stared down Pereira from cageside.
Pereira is one of the biggest draws in the UFC today and while Aspinall looks to have his next fight booked, he wouldn’t mind welcoming the 247 lb superstar to heavyweight in the future.
“Yeah, any fight is interesting to me,” Aspinall said of potentially fighting Pereira in an interview with Eurosport.
“I don’t need much to be enticed into a fight with somebody. I’m the easiest guy [to take a fight].
“If I was him, I’d wanna get the light heavyweight belt back. But I’m not him, so I don’t know.
“I think the weight thing, the guy and his team know what they’re doing on social media,” Aspinall said of Pereira’s latest weigh-in video.
“They know how to make headlines on social media, which is good.
“As far as I’m aware, that’s quite normal for him and bigger light heavyweights to get up to like 240, 250 [lbs]. Maybe he’s just teasing it,” Aspinall suggested.
Henry Cejudo says Tom Aspinall should fight Derrick Lewis next
Former two-division champion Henry Cejudo wants to see Aspinall locked in the cage with ‘The Black Beast’ Derrick Lewis.
Ranked #9 in the division, Lewis’s name popped back into the title conversation following his TKO win over the 6’7″ Tallison Teixeira at UFC Nashville.
#1 contender Ciryl Gane will likely get the next title opportunity against Aspinall, but Cejudo argues he shouldn’t, given his controversial split decision win over Alexander Volkov at UFC 310.
“It should be Tom Aspinall vs Derrick Lewis next,” Cejudo wrote on X.
“The fans would definitely prefer it, and Lewis would mean more to Aspinall’s resume than Gane.
“How could you build up a fight between Aspinall and Gane when Gane lost his last fight and Dana said to Volkov outside the cage “You got f—–.”
“Let Aspinall/Lewis headline UFC 322 at MSG,” Cejudo proposed.
