Tom Aspinall will be at his best when he defends his interim heavyweight title against Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 in Manchester on July 27.
For a native Brit like Aspinall, it's also about taking things back to his roots.
“Have you seen the documentary? knuckle“You know what? It's a documentary about travellers in the British Isles and it features a guy called Joe Joyce, who is a giant of travel legend, and Joe Joyce reveals the gypsy way of preparing for battle,” Aspinall said on Monday. MMA Hour“I wanted to lean a little bit into my gypsy heritage so I thought I'd make little rings out of hay bales.
“At about 4 a.m. I set my alarm, go outside and shadowbox on a bale of hay. Then, as the sun comes up, I do the old-fashioned tourist thing of soaking my knuckles in gasoline for 20 minutes. It stiffens them up.”
2011 Movies knuckle takes a look into the world of Irish Traveler bare-knuckle boxing. The Joyce family are one of the documentary's most featured families, with footage of Joe Joyce extolling the benefits of soaking his fists in gasoline to harden them has since gone viral.
The 31-year-old Aspinall said he's been doing the same old training pretty much every day ahead of the rematch with Blades. He's taking his preparation seriously and is no joke with the gas.
“These are some of the hardest knuckles in the UFC right now,” Aspinall said. “They're like rocks.”
Aspinall said waking up at 4 a.m. is also part of his fight-day preparation. Although UFC 304 will take place in his native England, the event is timed to fit North American broadcast schedules, which means Aspinall will likely be in Manchester making an early morning walk to the cage for his fight with Blaydes.
Aspinall said he hasn't paid much attention to the early start times, apart from his morning work around the hay bales and “just getting his body used to waking up at 4 a.m.”
“Look, if you can fight really well at midnight, but you can't fight really well at 4 a.m., [good] “Well, in my opinion,” Aspinall said, “you've traveled all over the world, fought in different time zones, without any adaptation, and now you're here, domestically, with a full training camp, ready to fight. So if that's an excuse, you're just not that good to begin with.”
“I spar once a week, usually twice a week on weekdays, around 10 a.m.,” he continued. “I've never thought, 'Okay, I'm going to start sparring in the middle of the night to get my body ready.' Not even once. In all the 30-plus fights I've had, or even how many fights I've had, it's never crossed my mind. I've never thought about the time difference every time I get on a plane and go somewhere. Why should I start now? That said, I'm preparing. I'm waking up, I'm shadowboxing. I'm taking it very seriously.”
Early morning or not, UFC 304 remains a big opportunity for Aspinall.
The British big man grew up just a stone's throw from the new Co-op Live arena in Manchester, the site of this card. He'll also get a chance to avenge his lone loss at UFC. Aspinall is a perfect 7-0 in his UFC career, barring a blemish against Blaydes in 2022, which ended in anticlimactic fashion when Aspinall suffered a knee injury just 15 seconds into the bout.
“This is a huge fight for me, professionally and personally,” Aspinall said.
“I started MMA a lifetime ago, but this is why I started the sport. All of this. There are so many people out there trying to reach their dreams, to reach their goals in life. This is the goal. This is the dream. This is everything. Two weeks from now, this is the dream. Defending the UFC heavyweight title in my hometown of Manchester in front of 25,000 Manchester fans is something that maybe half the world gets to achieve their dreams at this level. And I'm not just talking about fighting, I'm just talking about people in general who have dreams and goals. Whatever happens on that day, I've done it, I've experienced it, and my whole life has led up to this moment.”
