Tom Aspinall was trolling the world with claims he was using the “gypsy method” of soaking his fists in petrol, but now the joke has gotten out of hand.
It turns out Tom Aspinall has not been soaking his hands in gasoline leading up to UFC 304 to make his knuckles harder.
UFC’s interim Heavyweight champion shared the unusual training practice in an interview with The MMA Hour earlier this week, saying it was an old “gypsy trick” to give him the hardest hands in the sport.
Tom Aspinall admits he’s been trolling this whole time about dipping his hands in gasoline every morning ahead of #UFC304. ??#UFCManchester #UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/upELbN7QX8
— Parry Punch (@ParryPunchNews) July 25, 2024
“When it gets to about 4 a.m., I get my alarm on, I go outside, do a bit shadowboxing in the hay bales,” Aspinall claimed. “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 would repeat the claim several times during UFC 304 fight week, but it was all for a laugh. The British submission specialist shared video of him faking the knuckle soak for Helwani during a video call before revealing the truth.
“We’re taking the piss, it’s just water,” Aspinall admitted. “It was all a big f—ing joke. We gotta drop the gas thing because people think it’s serious. We’ve got to stop.”
We don’t know if soaking your hands in gasoline has any effect in authentic bareknuckle contests. There’s something to be said about having the gnarliest, roughest hands in the business when you’re fighting with no gloves.
But, Aspinall will be fighting Curtis Blaydes in Manchester, England, this weekend (Sat., July 27, 2024) with UFC gloves on, so yeah, we’re glad he’s got more sense than that. And glad he’s revealing the truth now before more fighters start copying him.
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