From what I have encountered,
Error getting response; org.apache.http.conn.HttpHostConnectException: Connection to http://127.0.0.1:8888 refused.
Is due to the proxy settings of SoapUI itself. My issue was resolved after changing the proxy setting of SoapUI to none.
Soap UI > Preferences ans Settings > Proxy settings > none
This link has more details on SoapUI settings :
https://www.soapui.org/getting-started/soapui-interface/preferences-and-settings.html
Just thought this might help someone out there.
