Aspinall's teammate claims Pereira previously declined Tom fight

Phil De Fries, a teammate of Tom Aspinall, claimed that Alex Pereira previously turned down an opportunity to fight Tom. De Fries stated that while he believes Aspinall is better than Ciryl Gane, the matchups present different stylistic challenges. He suggested that a fight between Aspinall and Pereira would be excellent for Tom. The post asked followers to weigh in on which fighter would pose a more difficult stylistic challenge for Pereira. This represents ongoing speculation about potential heavyweight matchups involving the interim champion Aspinall.