Tom Aspinall copying Tyson Fury’s bizarre and dangerous pre-fight tactics to secure huge knockout victory at UFC 304

TOM ASPINALL has revealed he is using a bizarre pre-fight strategy ahead of UFC 304.

The Atherton killer defends his interim heavyweight title in a rematch with Curtis Blaydes in the co-main event of the Manchester pay-per-view card on Sunday morning.

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Aspinall, 31, will be seeking revenge after suffering a horrific knee injury in their first meeting two years ago and will be eyeing another injury-time victory.

And he returned to his gypsy heritage before the riots in Manchester, dipping his hands in petrol every night to strengthen them.

During an appearance on MMA timeHe said, “Have you seen the documentary Joins? Are you familiar with this?

“It is a documentary about Travelerstraveling communities in the United Kingdom, Ireland.

“And there’s a guy there, big Joe Joycean ancient traveling legend and great Joe Joyce reveals some gypsy methods to prepare for a fight.

“I wanted to draw on some of the gypsy heritage I have, so I thought, okay, what I’m going to do is make a little ring out of hay bales.

“When 4 a.m. hits, I set the alarm, go outside and do some shadowboxing on the hay bales.

“And then I use the old traveler’s method of soaking the knuckles in gasoline for about 20 minutes while the sun rises, and that toughens the knuckles.”

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Many boxers in the traveling community still, to this day, douse their hands in gasoline before fights, including former WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.

The Gypsy King wet his hands in fuel every day during the final weeks of training camp for his 2020 rematch with Deontay Wilder, which he won via seventh-round TKO.

There are obvious health concerns about leaving your hands in a flammable, deadly liquid for an extended period of time periods of time, although Aspinall doesn’t worry about them.

The third British UFC champion said of his hands: Man, they’re like absolute rocks.

“You know what, I’ve seen new gloves and they’re a lot smaller than the others. There’s a lot less padding on them.

“And I thought, you know what, I need to toughen up my knuckles, and this is the only way I know.

“I have been practicing the old gypsy method of dipping them in gasoline, and they look like stones.

“If I get a nasty knockout on Saturday, you better believe half the squad is going to dip their fingers in gasoline.”