Alex Pereira and Tom Aspinall could go head-to-head in a blockbuster showdown if the Brazilian loses to Magomed Ankalaev.
On Saturday night, at UFC 313, ‘Poatan’ will attempt to defend his title against a Russian phenom, in front of a raucous crowd at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
And should the former Glory kickboxing world champion fall short, then he could have an interesting match-up ahead.
With Pereira now outright confirming he doesn’t want to fight Israel Adesanya, an MMA icon is adamant that negotiations for a showdown with the UFC interim heavyweight champion will begin.
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Chael Sonnen expects Alex Pereira vs Tom Aspinall conversations to start soon
Chael Sonnen believes that conversations surrounding a clash between Alex Pereira and Tom Aspinall are inevitable if Magomed Ankalaev can relieve the Sao Paulo striker of his 205-pound throne.
The formidable trash talker is adamant that people are dismissing how Pereira left the 185-pound weight class.
In a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, ‘The American Gangster’ said: “Many of you forgot how Pereira became a light heavyweight. I even hear commentators, say it; they believe that Pereira cleaned out the middleweight division and was so big that he moved up to light heavyweight. They’re wrong.
“Pereira lost at middleweight. He was no longer the champion. The most likely and easiest way to get Pereira to heavyweight is not that he beats Ankalaev and has nothing left to do, and cleans out the division; your most likely way is for Ankalaev to beat him.
“As frustrated as you guys might be with Jon Jones at the moment, Jon will not sidestep Aspinall to fight Pereira. Jon does have a code, and Jon will, when he fights, fight the best guy.
“But there is a chance that if both those guys are in the same weight class, Jon says, ‘You two go figure out who the best guy is, bring me the winner. Pereira, you and Aspinall, go and do that thing for the interim title, and let me know who the winner is’.
“The Aspinall and Pereira conversation is not only likely, it’s very likely to happen soon.”
Alex Pereira and Kamaru Usman share wholesome moment ahead of UFC 313
With Pereira now potentially on the cusp of moving into his third weight class for scraps with Jones and Aspinall, he’s fully moved on from his rivalry with Israel Adesanya.
The pair shared four electrifying bouts, spread across two sports, with the powerhouse winning the first three, two of which by devastating knockout, before ‘The Last Style Bender’ claimed his revenge.
Now, they’ve buried the hatchet and formed a friendship.
In an effort to continue growing their relationship, Pereira approached Kamaru Usman to make amends.