Tom Aspinall's teammate claims Alex Pereira declined fight with Tom

Phil de Fries, a teammate of Tom Aspinall, has stated that Alex Pereira previously turned down an opportunity to fight Tom Aspinall. According to de Fries, he believes Aspinall is better than Francis Ngannou and would be an excellent matchup for Pereira. The post notes that stylistically, opponents present different challenges for each other. De Fries framed this as a discussion about which heavyweight would be a tougher stylistic matchup for Pereira between Aspinall and Ngannou. The claim about Pereira declining the fight adds context to ongoing heavyweight division discussions.