Tom Aspinall impressed by Alex Pereira, would ‘absolutely want to fight him’

Tom Aspinall welcomes a fight with Alex Pereira.

Light heavyweight champion Pereira (11-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) has emerged as one of the biggest and most active stars on the UFC roster. He’s coming off his second title defense, a knockout of Jiri Prochazka in their title-fight rematch this past Saturday at UFC 303.

Aspinall (14-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) praised Pereira for his accomplishments. He would be more than happy to fight him if “Poatan” decides to move up to heavyweight, like he has previously teased.

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“As we’ve seen with me, I’m not shying away from anybody,” Aspinall told talkSPORT. “So if the UFC want to do that, I’m more than happy to do it. But as an elite-level fighter myself, you can’t help but be impressed with what Alex Pereira has done over the past couple of years. This time a few years ago, no one knew who he was and now he’s one of the biggest stars in MMA – one of the best fighters in UFC history.

“I really, really respect what he’s done. Does that mean that I don’t want to fight him? No. I absolutely want to fight him, but I’m sure there will be a time and a place for it. I’m not jumping ahead of things right now. I’m fighting Curtis Blaydes now, and if that’s what the UFC want to do one day, then we’ll absolutely do it.”

Aspinall is gearing up for his first title defense as interim heavyweight champion. He runs things back with Curtis Blaydes in the UFC 304 co-main event July 27 in Manchester, England.