TOM ASPINALL has revealed he’s using a bizarre pre-fight strategy ahead of UFC 304.
The Atherton assassin defends his interim heavyweight title in a rematch against Curtis Blaydes in the co-main event of the Manchester pay-per-view card early on Sunday morning.
Aspinall, 31, will be out for revenge having suffered a horror knee injury in their first meeting two years ago and is eyeing yet another stoppage win.
And he’s harked back to his gypsy heritage ahead of the Manchester melee by dipping his hands in petrol every night to strengthen them.
During an appearance on The MMA Hour, he said: “You ever see the documentary Knuckle? You familiar with that?
“It’s a documentary about travellers, travelling communities in the UK, Ireland.
“And there’s a guy on there, big Joe Joyce, an old travelling legend, and big Joe Joyce reveals a few gypsy methods for getting ready for a fight.
“I wanted to resort back to a bit of gypsy heritage that I’ve got, so I thought, right, what I’m going to do is I’m going to make a little ring out of hay bales.
“When it gets to about 4am, I get my alarm on, I go outside, do a bit shadowboxing in the hay bales.
“And then I do the old traveller method of dipping your knuckles in petrol for about 20 minutes as the sun’s coming up, and that hardens your knuckles.”
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Many boxers in the traveller community still, to this day, soak their hands in petrol ahead of fights, including former WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
The Gypsy King soaked his hands in fuel every day for the final few weeks of training camp for his 2020 rematch with Deontay Wilder, which he won via seventh-round TKO.
There are obvious health concerns with leaving one’s hands in a flammable and deadly liquid for prolonged periods of time, although Aspinall isn’t fussed about them.
Britain’s third UFC champ said of his hands: Mate, they’re like absolute stones.
“You know what, I’ve seen them new gloves, and they’re a lot smaller than the other ones. There’s a lot less padding on them.
“And I just thought, you know what, I need to harden the knuckles up, and that’s the only way I know how.
“I’ve been doing the old gypsy method of dipping them in petrol, and they’re like rocks.
“If I get a disgusting knockout on Saturday, you better believe that half of the roster are going to be dipping their knuckles in petrol.”
