Tom Aspinall claims Alex Pereira’s team ‘know how to make headlines’ when it comes to his viral weight gain.Pereira has attracted lots of eyes on social media over the last few weeks following a series of videos that show he is now walking around as a heavyweight.Pereira lost the light heavyweight title to Magomed Ankalaev in MarchGettyThis has led several MMA fans to believe that ‘Poatan’ is preparing to move up to heavyweight, with the Brazilian tipping the scales at a monstrous 244 lbs last month.Aspinall is currently waiting for the UFC to announce the first defence of his heavyweight title reign.He was elevated to undisputed status when Jon Jones announced his retirement from the sport, and many fans have since dreamt of a blockbuster clash with Pereira.Although the Brit said ‘Poatan’ could be teasing the move up to heavyweight, he believes it could be nothing more than mind games from the former two-division UFC champion and his team.“Any fight is interesting to me,” Aspinall told ex-UFC heavyweight Stefan Struve for UFC op Eurosport, when asked if Pereira is someone he can see himself up against.“I don’t need much to be enticed into a fight with somebody. I’m the easiest guy… You just tell me I’m fighting and I’m in.“But as far as [Pereira’s] concerned, I think that if I were him, I’d want to get a rematch and get the light heavyweight belt back, but I’m not him, so I don’t know.”Pereira dropped the light heavyweight title to Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313 in March, having defended it four times since winning it from Jiri Prochazka in 2023.“[In terms of] the weight thing, [Pereira] and his team know what they’re doing on social media,” Aspinall continued.“They know how to make headlines, which is good, as far as I’m aware, that’s quite normal for him and bigger light heavyweights to get up to like 240-250 [lbs].Aspinall said Pereira might be ‘teasing’ a move up to heavyweightGettyBut said he’d want a rematch with Ankalaev if he were in the Brazilian’s shoesGetty“So I don’t know maybe he’s just teasing it, maybe it’ll be him – I have no idea.”Pereira usually walks around at 230 lbs, so the added weight he has been carrying in the last month has led to fans theorising that he might be preparing for a fight against Aspinall.However, the more likely scenario is that Pereira rematches Ankalaev for the 205 lb belt, and his public weight videos could simply be a ploy from Pereira’s camp to get the ball rolling for negotiations a bit faster than current proceedings.The 38-year-old threatened the UFC on X in May that he had ‘thoughts of not fighting anymore,’ but later claimed he was hacked on social media through a video on his Instagram.Current light heavyweight champion Ankalaev has expressed his thoughts on the rematch with Pereira several times, saying in June he would rather fight Carlos Ulberg, as he believes the New Zealander is ‘more dangerous’ than his fellow 205 lb fighters.He wrote last week: “I’m very thankful to be part of the UFC, best sport company in the world. UFC Heavyweight RankingsChampion: Tom AspinallCiryl GaneAlexander VolkovSergei PavlovichCurtis BlaydesJailton AlmeidaWaldo Cortes AcostaMarcin TyburaSergehi SpivacDerrick LewisTai TuivasaShamil GazievMick ParkinMartin BudayTallison TeixeiraRizvan KunievPereira has won a UFC title in the middleweight and light heavyweight divisionsGetty“The best have yet to come.”Aspinall, meanwhile, is expected to make his first defence against No.1 contender Ciryl Gane, after Jailton Almeida announced he would be fighting Alexander Volkov in a title eliminator bout at UFC 321 in October.This would give Pereira time to go after a rematch with Ankalaev, before moving up a weight division to heavyweight.‘Poatan’ would then have the opportunity to become the first fighter in UFC history to win titles in three divisions.He won the middleweight belt by knocking out Israel Adesanya in 2022, before his incredible light heavyweight title reign.Pereira’s last victory in the octagon came against Khalil Rountree Jr in the main event of UFC 307 in October 2024.