Unconventional fight preparation or notoriously dry British humor? You decide.
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Interim UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall has made headlines alleging he is soaking his knuckles in petrol in preparation for his UFC 304 co-main event on July 27. Appearing on The MMA Hour on July 15, Aspinall remarked that he does “the old traveler method of dipping your knuckles in petrol for about 20 minutes as the sun’s coming up.” He alleged that it makes his knuckles harder, “These are some of the hardest knuckles in the UFC right here right now.”
Aspinall’s methodology has its routes in Irish traveler bare-knuckle boxing, most notably from the fighting man ‘Big’ Joe Joyce, who popularized the technique in the 2011 documentary Knuckle:
“I used to steep my hands in petrol,” Joyce said. “It would leave my hands like a rock – rock hard. … Left them in petrol for 20 minutes every day. Any man I ever fought I’d leave their face like a butcher’s block.”
The technique was also used by Tyson Fury in preparation for his 2020 rematch with Deontay Wilder.
The ethanol in petrol will likely dry the skin and give the impression of tougher knuckles, but it’s just a lack of moisture and can lead to skin tearing or irritation. Petrol is classified as “possibly carcinogenic to humans.” There is no solid evidence of it causing cancer in humans, but there is some evidence of it in animals.
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At the least, prolonged exposure to the skin can cause skin conditions. The Health Protection Agency’s toxicological overview for Petrol states that “dermal (skin) exposure to petrol is not considered a major factor in system toxicity,” but this works under the assumption that the exposure is relatively small, not 20 minutes of direct exposure every day.
It’s best to err on the side of caution in these cases. In the world of professional sports, if a technique works, everybody uses it.
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