Tom Aspinall's teammate claims Alex Pereira previously declined fight offer

Phil De Fries, a training partner of Tom Aspinall, stated that Alex Pereira previously turned down an opportunity to face Aspinall. De Fries commented that while he believes Aspinall is better than Ciryl Gane, the stylistic matchup between fighters varies. He posed a question to fans about which heavyweight would present a more difficult stylistic challenge for Pereira. The post suggests this would have been an attractive fight for Aspinall had it materialized. No timeline was provided for when Pereira allegedly declined the matchup.