Tom Aspinall is going “old school” for his UFC 304 training camp.
The interim heavyweight title is on the line for the first time since 2005, as Aspinall defends the championship against top contender Curtis Blaydes on July 27th in Manchester, England. Aspinall will look to avenge his one and only UFC loss to Blaydes, which came by way of a knee injury, 15 seconds into their first fight at UFC London in 2022.
Aspinall fights in Jon Jones’ absence as the UFC Heavyweight Champion is coming off an injury that took him out of his title defense against Stipe Miocic last year – a fight Jones still wants back, more than anything.
Aspinall’s Changing Things Up For UFC 304
But, enough about “Bones”, we’re here to talk about knuckles. In what is one of the most unorthodox training methods for a fight, Aspinall claims he is dipping his knuckles into a barrel of petrol “most days” to make his fists as hard as rocks. The Brit took after ‘Big’ Joe Joyce, who apparently did the same thing in his 2011 documentary ‘Knuckle’.
“It’s a documentary about travelers, traveling communities in the UK, Ireland. There’s a guy on there, big Joe Joyce, an old traveling legend,” Aspinall said on ‘The MMA Hour‘ on Monday. “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 04:00 a.m, I get my alarm on, I go outside, do a bit of shadow boxing 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. You need to watch the documentary ‘Knuckle’ with the legendary man Joe Joyce and all the guys who do that shadowboxing and hay bales and taking it old school and dipping your knuckles in petrol.”
‘These Are Some Of The Hardest Knuckles In The UFC’
Putting his knuckles into petrol is now a part of Aspinall’s daily routine, one the heavy-handed fighter hardly needs with 10 KO’s already on his pro record. As for the science behind it, there’s no guarantee that Joyce’s old “gypsy method” actually makes your knuckles harder and you would think the harmful chemicals found in gasoline wouldn’t be good for your skin, but… that won’t stop Aspinall from getting every edge he can get it ahead of his interim title rematch with “Razor” Blaydes.
Here’s what a day in the life looks like for Aspinall in this most unusual training camp.
“I put my alarm on for about 4 [AM]… I go to bed about normal time, like 11 [PM], 12 [AM] sleep for like four or 5 hours, go out there, just wake my body up a little bit, do some stretching, do a little bit of shadow boxing, soak my knuckles for a little bit, and then I come back in, take my kids to school, go and train. It’s an old, traditional, traditional fighting man thing. Dip your knuckles in the petrol, mate. Get them rock hard. These are some of the hardest knuckles in the UFC right here, right now. They’re like rocks.”
Tom Aspinall will make the walk to fight Curtis Blaydes at around 4AM local time, come July 27th, in front of a home crowd in Manchester, England. Let’s see if this “rock hard” training regiment pays off for Aspinall as he attempts to lock in his first interim title defense.
