Ahead of his fight at UFC 304 next weekend, Tom Aspinall has revealed that he has been soaking his knuckles in petrol every day to prepare for the bout.
Tom Aspinall Ready For UFC 304
Tom Aspinall takes on Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 next weekend, with the Salford born fighter looking to defend his UFC interim heavyweight championship in his home town, Manchester.
Everyone prepares for their fights in different ways, but Aspinall has revealed perhaps one of the strangest methods used by a fighter to prepare for his bout next week.
“You ever see the documentary Knuckle? You familiar with that? It’s a documentary about travelers, traveling communities in the UK island. And there’s a guy on there, big Joe Joyce, an old traveling legend, and big Joe Joyce reveals a few gypsy methods for getting ready for a fight,” Aspinall said on Monday.
“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 4 a.m., I get my alarm on, I go outside, do a bit shadowboxing in the hay bales — and then I do the old traveler method of dipping your knuckles in petrol for about 20 minutes as the sun’s coming up, and that hardens your knuckles.”
JUST TWO WEEKS OUT 😮💨@AspinallMMA & @RazorBlaydes265 collide in the #UFC304 co-main event!
See you in Manchester 👀 pic.twitter.com/Eq9xHg059h
— UFC (@ufc) July 14, 2024
“These are some of the hardest knuckles in the UFC right here right now,” Aspinall said. “They’re like rocks.”
The methodology is certainly an interesting take from Aspinall, but it is his straight to the point and entertaining personality that has made him so popular in the UFC since he joined.
Aspinall holds a 7-1 record in the UFC coming in to next weekend’s fight, with his only loss coming to his opponent for the upcoming card, Curtis Blaydes.
His loss to Blaydes in July 2022 lasted just 15 seconds, with Aspinall forced to retire before any blows were really landed with a worrying knee injury.
Aspinall was out for 364 days after tearing his MCL and meniscus, but since returning to the ring in 2023 he is 2-0.
The 31-year-old is much more experienced now than he was when first facing Blaydes and he comes into his title defence as a short betting favourite to move to 8-1.
