UFC president Dana White says the original plan for the UFC Freedom 250 card was Tom Aspinall vs. Alex Pereira for the UFC heavyweight title.
This coming Sunday at UFC Freedom 250, Pereira battles Ciryl Gane for the interim UFC heavyweight title at the White House. Aspinall, the UFC heavyweight champion, is currently out after he suffered an eye injury against Gane last October in their fight at UFC 321, necessitating the need for an interim heavyweight title bout in the meantime.
But according to White, had Aspinall been healthy, the undisputed heavyweight belt would have been on the line between Aspinall and Pereira.
Dana White Reveals Tom Aspinall vs. Alex Pereira Was Original Plan for UFC Freedom 250
Speaking to TNT Sports ahead of the UFC White House card, White revealed the original plan for the heavyweight belt was a dream matchup between Aspinall and Pereira. But with Aspinall hurt, the UFC had to switch the bout to Gane as Pereira’s opponent, with the interim belt on the line.
“100%. That would have been the fight if he was (healthy),” White said of Aspinall vs. Pereira
“Right now, a lot of our champions are hurt right now. So it’s kind of funky, there’s a lot of things you have to deal with when you’re making these matches, with timing and everything else going in everyone’s life, injuries. But yeah, it would have been Tom.”
Will Tom Aspinall Fight the Winner of Alex Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane?
The burning question regarding Aspinall is whether he will even fight the winner of Pereira vs. Gane.
While that’s the UFC’s plan, Aspinall’s manager, Eddie Hearn, recently asked for the promotion to release the heavyweight champion, saying he was “underpaid” and “unhappy.”
The UFC typically does not bow down to these sorts of demands from fighters and their managers, especially when it comes to someone like Hearn, whom White does not like at all, both personally and professionally.
The hope is that the UFC and Aspinall can get on the same page quickly, so the heavyweight champion can get back in the cage by the end of 2026 and battle the winner of Pereira vs. Gane to unify the heavyweight belts. But that’s not a guarantee at the moment due to Hearn’s demands for his client to get a new and improved contract.
Ultimately, the fans just want to see the best fights possible, and Aspinall vs. Pereira is one of the biggest and best fights that the UFC can book right now. As White said, this was the original plan for UFC Freedom 250, but Aspinall’s eye injury meant that it couldn’t take place this Sunday at the White House.
Hopefully, cooler heads will prevail, and White and Hearn can figure out what will happen to Aspinall. In the meantime, we have a fantastic interim heavyweight title bout this weekend between Pereira and Gane that will at least produce an interim champion in Aspinall’s absence. And, hopefully, the victor of this bout will step into the Octagon with Aspinall by year’s end.
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