EXCLUSIVE
Tom Aspinall offers Alex Pereira opportunity to become three-weight UFC champion while he waits for Jon Jones fight
Tom Aspinall insists he is more than happy to take on Alex Pereira while he waits for his opportunity to face Jon Jones.
The UFC interim heavyweight champion is set to duke it out with Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 on July 27 in Manchester as Jones looks to defend the full championship title against Stipe Miocic.
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Jones and Miocic were supposed to square off at UFC 295 last November, but Jones suffered a pectoral tear in training and has been out of action ever since.
With Jones sidelined, a fight between Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich was made last November to determine an interim champion.
Aspinall won the fight via first-round knockout and is now next in line to face the winner of Jones vs Miocic.
But with no clear date in place for the fight, the Brit may have to wait a while for his opportunity.
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In the meantime, reigning UFC light heavyweight champion and former UFC middleweight champion Pereira has stated his intentions to enter the fold at heavyweight.
Pereira is hoping to become the first three-weight champion in UFC history and Aspinall is willing to give the Brazilian that opportunity whether it is for the interim or full world title.
"As we have seen with me, I'm not shying away from anybody, so if the UFC wants to do that then I'm more than happy to do it," Aspinall told .
"As an elite-level fighter myself, you can't help but be impressed with what Alex Pereira has done over the last couple of years.
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"This time a few years ago nobody knew who he was and now he is one of the biggest stars in MMA, one of the best fighters in UFC history, and I really respect what he has done.
"Does that mean I don't want to fight him? No, I absolutely want to fight him.
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"I'm sure there will be a time and 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 wants to do one day then we will absolutely do it."
Pereira defended his UFC light heavyweight title for a second time last weekend with a stunning second-round head-kick knockout win over Jiri Prochazka.
In the immediate aftermath of his statement victory, the 36-year-old MMA icon made it clear he is open to moving up in weight.
But UFC president Dana White is more hesitant.
“It’s not that I’m not into it — the guy was a middleweight, then moves up to light heavyweight,” White said at the UFC 303 post-fight press conference.
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“He’s had a couple fights there, defended his title. But it’s not like this guy’s been in the division for two years and he ran through everybody that’s in the division.
“Think about this, when those two squared off — not just him, Jiri too — when you see me standing in the middle of these guys, these guys are f*cking monsters.
"They’re both big guys. Imagine they were both middleweights at one time — it’s insane, but they look good at light heavyweight. It’s a whole other level going up to heavyweight.
"Even as big as Jon Jones is, as good as Jon Jones is, when Jon Jones was moving up to heavyweight, we’re like, ‘This is going to be interesting.’”
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