Tom Aspinall soaking hands in petrol ahead of UFC 304 title fight: ‘That hardens your knuckles’

UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall is using a unique training method ahead of his UFC 304 fight against Curtis Blaydes.

Aspinall is set to defend his interim title in the co-main event of UFC 304, and in the lead-up to the fight, the Brit says he is dipping his hands in petrol to help strengthen his knuckles, which he says is part of his gypsy heritage.

“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,” Tom Aspinall said Monday on The MMA Hour. “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… These are some of the hardest knuckles in the UFC right here right now. They’re like rocks.”

It is a unique training method, but Tom Aspinall has confidence it will help his power get even stronger and will lead to him getting a KO win over Blaydes at UFC 304 on July 27 in Manchester, England.

Tom Aspinall preparing for odd UFC 304 start time

UFC 304 will take place at an odd time in Manchester, as the main card will take place at 3 a.m. local time.

It is a unique challenge for the local fighters, but Aspinall says he’s adjusting well and is confident he will be firing on all cylinders come fight night.

“Look mate, if you can fight really well at 12 o’clock midnight, but you can’t fight really well at 4 a.m., you weren’t that [good] in the first place, in my opinion,” Tom Aspinall said. “Like, there’s plenty of times that I’ve traveled across the world, fought in different time zones without even adjusting myself. And now I’ve had a full training camp at home, I’m right there ready to fight, so if that’s an excuse, mate, you’re not that good in the first place.”

Aspinall enters his UFC 304 fight against Blaydes as a -380 favorite.