“We did a little bit of flirting,” Tom Aspinall comes clean about rumors on fighting Alex Pereira at UFC 300

A few months ago, Tom Aspinall and Alex Pereira were rumored to clash heads at the historic UFC 300. The news surprised the MMA community since Pereira was the Light heavyweight champion and would need to bulk up to heavyweight. Nonetheless, the champ-champ matchup intrigued the fans. However, it didn’t come to fruition. Now, Tom Aspinall shared insights about the negotiations that went behind the scenes.

In his recent appearance on the ‘Believe You Me’ podcast, Aspinall affirmed there were talks about Alex Pereira moving to heavyweight. He too welcomed the idea and was more interested than ‘Poatan’. But, the Light-Heavyweight champion didn’t feel ready to make the move up and turned down the idea. However, Aspinall confirmed Pereira’s interest in fighting at heavyweight and teased he could make the move in the future.

We did a little bit of flirting with the idea. I was more interested than him it seemed. Long story short, he wants to go to heavyweight, doesn’t want to go to heavyweight yet.

Tom Aspinall (via Believe You Me Podcast)

The rumors of Aspinall and Pereira fighting stemmed from a cryptic mathematical equation the latter posted on his Instagram. Following it, a series of hints were thrown on social media providing a strong inclination to the matchup was happening. However, the Brazilian discarded the rumors in December and both the UFC fighters went their separate ways. Moreover, Poatan is the only fighter to be a two-weight champion in two different sports.

Now, Pereira is defending his LHW title against Jamahal Hill at the main event of UFC 300. As for Aspinall, he looked forward to defending his interim title amidst the absence of the undisputed champion Jon Jones. He welcomed a fight with Curtis Blaydes after his win at UFC 299.

What did Alex Pereira say about a potential move up to heavyweight?

While the ship of Alex Pereira fighting Tom Aspinall has sailed, the Brazilian has not given up on the idea. Coming from middleweight to light-heavyweight, Pereira still looked massive. He walked around 230lbs and a potential move up to heavyweight wasn’t too much of an ask. Also, considering a move up in weight class would provide him an opportunity to become the first three-weight division champion, he welcomed the idea.

Alex Pereira, although interested in fighting at heavyweight didn’t want to make a premature move. As such, he declined the idea of fighting Aspinall. In an interview with ‘The Mac Life’, he stated he had all the physical attributes to fight at heavyweight but wanted it to be well-planned. So, he stayed focused on his LHW reign and kept the idea of a move up for the future.

‘Poatan’ had some ambitious plans for his title reign. He expressed interest in making a quick turnaround for UFC 301 and defending his title against Magomed Ankalaev.

In case you missed it:

• Nate Diaz calls for Dana White’s UFC to ‘free’ Conor McGregor from shackles of contract
• Ian Garry responds to Colby Covington’s insulting call out to fight after fiery back-and-forth

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