Aspinall Douses His Knuckles In Petrol – ‘That Hardens Your Knuckles’
Tom Aspinall is taking all the steps needed to emerge victorious against Curtis Blaydes on July 27 at UFC 304.
Aspinall defends his Interim Heavyweight Belt in a rematch of his 2022 clash. The Brit suffered his first UFC loss on that occasion, breaking his knee in a first-round TKO. Aspinall has bounced back since then, knocking out Marcin Tybura and Sergei Pavlovich in first-round wins. Tom was chasing the Jon Jones fight.
Aspinall Reacts
However, Bones is currently out injured as he prepares to make his comeback, which is likely against Stipe Miocic. Aspinall has said he will not defend the interim belt after Blaydes as he seeks a title shot. That makes it vital that he secures a win over Blaydes. The UFC fighter has resorted to unorthodox methods to get a win by using petrol to strengthen his knuckles.
“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. 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,” Aspinall said
Aspinall’s Aims
Aspinall’s comments were based on the film Knuckle. It looks at the journey of an Irish Gypsy/Traveler who takes up bare-knuckle boxing. In the movie, the character Joe Joyce talks up the benefits of putting knuckles in petrol. Aspinall is using this as a daily exercise to get ahead of Blaydes. He also wakes up at 4 a.m. Part of this routine is hay bales.
The morning time is designed to get himself ready for fight time. Since the card is taking place in England, Aspinall is fighting on prime time US time, which translates to early morning UK Time. Despite his unhappiness and requests to change it, the Brit has been left to adjust to the new timings.
“I spar at about 10 a.m. once a week, twice a week usually on a weekday. I have never thought — it never even crossed my mind to think, like, ‘Right, I’m going to start sparring at midnight just to get my body ready for it.’ Never.
“Never crossed my mind in like 30-plus fights or however many fights I have. And all the times I’ve got on a plane and traveled somewhere, it’s never bothered me about the time difference. Why should it start now? But saying that, I am preparing myself for it. I am waking up, I am doing the shadowboxing, I am taking it very seriously,” Aspinall added
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