Jon Jones Snubs Tom Aspinall as Alex Pereira’s Surprise Move Ignites UFC Heavyweight Title Fight

There’s a lot happening in the heavyweight division right now. Almost all of the fighting community has taken a stand against the heavyweight champion Jon Jones. The reason is obvious—that heavyweight title unification bout with interim champion Tom Aspinall hasn’t happened yet. The annoyance is so much that fans even started a petition for the UFC to strip Jones, which garnered more than 200,000 signatures. But while the top seems clogged at the moment, there seems to be some activity, and that’s where Alex Pereira comes in.

Taking to his Instagram profile, ‘Poatan’ shared a visual of his time at the UFC Performance Institute. In the video, he goes up to a scale and weighs in at a whopping 243 pounds. The man behind the camera, Plinio Cruz, couldn’t believe it at all. He exclaimed, “243lbs is a f—— big heavyweight size, bro. Heavyweight bro!” 

Meanwhile, Dana White has provided an ultimatum to the heavyweight champion. Speaking on the matchup between Jones and Aspinall, the UFC CEO told Jim Rome, “We’ll see how this thing plays out over the next couple of weeks. If we can’t get this fight done, we’ll move on quickly … We’ll have answers in the next couple weeks.” And the fighting community has been connecting the dots. 

When Pereira lost his light heavyweight belt to Magomed Ankalaev, many believed that he’d soon opt for a rematch. But later, during a conversation with Full Violence, Jiri Prochazka confirmed that the Brazilian wasn’t interested in fighting the current light heavyweight champion anymore. Isn’t this a bit too convenient? Jones doesn’t wish to fight Aspinall, and coincidentally, Pereira weighs in at 243 pounds.

Left Hook Club took to Instagram and shared their thoughts on this particular development. The text on the post read, “Jones doesn’t want to fight. Dana gives him 2 weeks. Alex is on 243lbs. Means only one thing…” The post showed 4 tiles, with the final one showing a picture of ‘Poatan’ facing off against the interim heavyweight champion. Well, that did resonate with Sean Strickland’s comment on Pereira’s Instagram post regarding his current weight. ‘Tarzan’ wrote, “Alex vs Tom for the heavy weight belt.”

The talk of Pereira moving to the heavyweight division isn’t very new. His coach, Glover Teixeira, previously confirmed that ‘Poatan’ wanted to move up in the weight class. He provided a timeline of around March or April 2025 for the former LHW champ to enter the heavyweight category. Now, the question is: Will Aspinall accept a fight against Periera? 

Tom Aspinall weighs in on a bout against Alex Pereira in the heavyweight category

On The Ariel Helwani Show earlier this year, the man with the hands of stone weighed in on his stance as a heavyweight. He claimed, “I’ll fight anybody at heavyweight. But I’m the champion, and Jon Jones is the champion. If Aspinall was the champion, I’d [have] want[ed] to fight him.” And with White’s deadline for Jones, we might get to see the Englishman sit on the championship throne pretty soon. This means a fight between Pereira and Aspinall might actually be the next big thing in the heavyweight division. 

And Aspinall isn’t going to fight Pereira without the undisputed title on the line. On his YouTube channel, the interim heavyweight champion said, “The guy’s a superstar in the sport, so do whatever you want. If we meet, for sure, I think we’re both on the same page: It’s going to be for an undisputed heavyweight title. Maybe see you next year at some point. Like I’ve said, I’ve got a lot of respect for Alex Pereira and what he’s done in the sport, and especially in a short amount of time. But if we’re going to make it happen, it’s going to be for the undisputed title. So see him there.”

‘Poatan’s move definitely surprised many of us. But just imagine the kind of performance Pereira and Aspinall can showcase if they fight against each other. Well, Jones is probably out of the picture right now. After all, he chose to walk away from a recent interview with Fullsend podcast when the host asked him about Aspinall. And this wasn’t the first time such an incident happened.

For now, all we need to do is wait for the UFC head honcho to make things official. But do let us know about your thoughts on Pereira as a heavyweight contender.