Nikita Tszyu vs. Jack Brubaker fight: Tszyu reveals he ate a snake heart in bizarre Thai training camp ritual

Nikita Tszyu is trying to some bizarre food in the lead up to his showdown with Jack Brubaker, revealing he took part in a Cobra ritual in a Thailand training camp.

Cobra heart is thick like medicine when you bite into it, and tastes like Jägermeister with some herbal hints and a touch of chai tea.

It’s best eaten raw – preferably while still beating – then washed down with the same snake’s blood.

That’s Nikita Tszyu’s advice after he sampled the rare delicacy during training camp in Thailand last month.

“It’s quite tasty, I enjoyed it,” Tszyu told this masthead. “It was kind of like a chicken heart.

“It was nice, but weird.”

By Tszyu’s own admission that last comment sums up the 6-0 super-welterweight boxer perfectly: nice, but weird.

The cobra heart that Nikita Tszyu ate raw in Thailand during training camp last month. Picture: Supplied

Tszyu washed down the snake heart with a shot of snake blood. Picture: Supplied

At Thursday’s press conference announcing his first headline pay-per-view fight, which takes place on August 23 at the Hordern Pavilion against Jack Brubaker, Tszyu described the ‘Cronulla Cowboy’ Brubaker as having, “A beautiful personality. You have a bubbliness to you, and I respect it. You’re unique and you own it.”

The comment caught Brubaker off guard.

“I wouldn’t go back to his house if he invited me over for a barbecue, I’ll tell you that,” he said. “I’d wake up with his dogs licking my toes and tied to a chair, he’s a strange cat.”

Brubaker is spot on about the danger of a Nikita Tszyu barbecue.

Beef testicle, lamb heart and raw liver have all been on the menu, but snake heart rates as the strangest.

It’s full of protein, apparently, but Tszyu says he was more interested in the ritual.

“They killed it in front of us and I ate the heart as it was still beating,” he said. “We weren’t allowed to record the process of it being killed, but they give it to you in a cup, you swallow the heart then drink the blood.

“I was chewing it, trying to understand the taste to it. The Thai girls watching were looking at me like I’m a creep, thinking I was actually enjoying it.

“It’s a very spiritual thing.

“Although it’s sad having the life stripped out of it, I paid respect to it. I was looking into its eyes, I said a prayer to it, saying, ‘Thank you for your life’.”

Tszyu destroyed Ben Bommber in 50 seconds in May. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

Tszyu is unsure if his training camp snack was fully legal.

“They tied it up with string from its head, and it was kind of choking,” he said. “They had it in full tension, turned it around, got a razor and sliced open the stomach without killing it.

“I was looking at the snake like, ‘the poor thing’.

“I felt bad, but they said it would die soon. They ripped out its guts, got some black-blue organ, popped it, squeezed it into the blood, then pulled out the heart as it was still beating.

“It was still beating when I ate it.”

Jack Brubaker has a “beautiful personality” according to Tszyu. Picture: No Limit Boxing

Unsurprisingly, Tszyu says he was first introduced to snake hearts as sustenance – which has a long history in South East Asia – by his dad, Kostya.

“There’s a deep history of warriors drinking snake blood to give them strength in wars,” he said. “When my father came with us to Thailand, I witnessed him drinking snake blood.

“I was eight or 10 or something, and for some people that would have been traumatising or scarring.

“But I got to look at my dad as a warrior, a champion. This is what real men do, so it was always embedded in my head.”

Asked about his younger brother’s offbeat diet, Tim says he tries to stay away from it.

“He put it in the group chat we have, a beating heart with blood … it’s not my thing,” he told this masthead. “I wouldn’t say it’s a thing, but if we’re both in that situation, I’d try it with him.

“I’m not much of an experimental eater. I let Nikita do his thing.

“He’s always been like that.”

Nikita’s brother Tim says "experimental eating" isn't for him. Picture: No Limit Boxing.

Nikita is hoping the snake heart snack will pay dividends when he steps into the ring against the 17-4-2 Brubaker on August 23.

He was deep in training camp when Brubaker returned from a 26-month lay-off to beat Troy O’Meley in a hard-fought decision two weeks ago.

“I actually haven’t watched it, I only got news that Brubaker actually lost it,” he said. “I don’t think I actually need to watch it.

“I’ll eventually watch it, but I don’t think it’s a fight to judge him off. You want to watch someone and study them at their highs, when they’re dangerous, not when they’re vulnerable.

“I want to enjoy the sweetness of seeing him vulnerable. I’ll prepare for his most dangerous self.”

Originally published as Nikita Tszyu vs. Jack Brubaker fight: Tszyu reveals he ate a snake heart in bizarre Thai training camp ritual