“I’d like to do four [fights] in the next 12 months. I don’t know how realistic that is.” After Jon Jones finally announced his retirement, Tom Aspinall became the heavyweight champion and promised to keep the heavyweight division moving forward. Aspinall has already defeated six of the top ten heavyweight contenders in the fight promotion. His goal is to rise victorious against all of them. And one name that many think is the next fight for the champion is none other than Ciryl Gane. 

Weighing in on the possible battle against ‘Bon Gamin’, during a conversation with Adam Catterall, the heavyweight champion said, “We’ve been supposed to fight each other a couple of times before. He’s a little bit older and at least he started his career in the UFC a little bit earlier than I did. So when I was in, it was always like I was trying to fight him because he was just a little bit above me all the time.” 

However, the fight never really materialized. To make things worse, the Frenchman even turned Aspinall down a few times. The reason? According to the British champion, it was likely because Gane didn’t want to fight fighters lower in the rankings than him. But there was one name that, even though it wasn’t a heavyweight yet, succeeded in exciting Aspinall – the former two-division champion, Alex Pereira. Even Chael Sonnen approved of the matchup between Pereira and Aspinall. 

Taking to his YouTube channel, Chael Sonnen weighed in on the next fight for Aspinall. And out of the options between Gane and Pereira, he chose the latter. ‘The American Gangster’ said, “I have pushed back strongly on the idea of Tom vs. Ciryl. I think that that would be a mistake. I think that that would be regretted in the build to the fight, during the fight, and in the aftermath. Therefore, I think that that would be regretted. I think Alex Pereira is a much more interesting idea. But set both of those concepts to the side briefly. The bottom line is we don’t have anybody, at least, per a public announcement, for Tom Aspinall.” 

But what do the fighters think? Alex Pereira and Tom Aspinall have already talked about a fight against each other. Let’s take a look at what they had to say. 

Alex Pereira and Tom Aspinall open up on a superfight against each other

During a conversation with Caroline Pearce, the former light heavyweight champion revealed his intention of fighting Tom Aspinall. He claimed, “You know, even people have been saying it, and there’s been a lot of talk about it. He even said that it’s something that would interest him, so it’s possible.” However, it was a time when he was still the light heavyweight champion. And he wanted nothing but to fight for the heavyweight title. He opined, “I’ll fight anybody at heavyweight. But I’m the champion, and Jon Jones is the champion. If Aspinall was the champion, I’d want to fight him.”

Following the battle between the man with the hands of stone and Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313, Pereira went pretty silent. And Tom Aspinall believed that the best course of action for the Brazilian would be to focus on getting his light heavyweight belt back. He claimed, “I think that it’s a tough fight for Alex. It’s definitely a fight that Alex can win… I think, as far as his move up to heavyweight, I’m only speaking if I was in his position, I’d want to get that one back first.”

In case the matchup between Pereira and Aspinall doesn’t materialize, the Brit seemed to have four other options. They were Jailton Almeida, Waldo Cortes Acosta, Derrick Lewis, and, of course, ‘Bon Gamin’. But just like Sonnen asserted, it’s the battle between Aspinall and Pereira that many fans want to see. What are your thoughts on the matchup? Should ‘Poatan’ fight Aspinall?