Tom Aspinall is taking some extreme measures to prepare for his interim heavyweight title fight with Curtis Blaydes.
Aspinall will run it back with ‘Razor’ on Saturday night at UFC 304 in Manchester, two years after their first meeting came to a crashing halt just 15 seconds in. That night, Aspinall suffered a freak knee injury resulting in him taking his first and only L inside the Octagon.
Their co-main event clash will be Aspinall’s first fight of 2024 and thus, his first time competing in the new and improved(?) gloves that made their official debut at UFC 302 in June.
Having had an opportunity to try out the new fit, Aspinall quickly recognized that the gloves were lighter and had less protection around the knuckles. So he did what any reasonable fighter would do — he started soaking them in gasoline.
“Mate, they’re like absolute stones,” Aspinall told reporters during his appearance at the UFC 304 media day. “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” (h/t MMA Junkie).
Tom Aspinall has nothing but respect for Curtis Blaydes
With 18 fights inside the Octagon and wins over the likes of Mark Hunt, Alistair Overeem, Junior dos Santos, Alexander Volkov, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, and Jailton Almeida, Curtis Blaydes has more than proven himself to be one of the heavyweight division’s toughest tests.
“The guy’s been in the top five, top 10 for a long time,” Aspinall said. “He’s done basically everything there is to do apart from win a title. So I respect him a lot, and I respect what he’s all about. I respect him as a person, as an athlete, everything, and I have taken him very seriously in the build-up, and I’m taking this fight very, very seriously. I’m not looking past him at all.”
