The Flyers brought in a UFC fighter and a bare-knuckles boxer to teach them how to fight. Are the Bullies back?

The Flyers sneaked two new offseason hires under the radar: their new chief fight officers, UFC middleweight Andre Petroski and Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship welterweight Johnny Garbarino.

Petroski and Garbarino have spent the offseason working with Nick Deslauriers and a group of the Flyers’ young players, including Oliver Bonk and Tyson Foerster, teaching them the basics of how to hold their own in a fight on the ice.

Petroski, who is from Springfield, Delaware County, said the Flyers reached out to him about hosting a few lessons. He looped in South Philly native Garbarino, who grew up playing hockey before becoming a professional fighter and a professional chef.

“The fighting part, to me, is if you can gain an advantage with intimidation, and intimidation is speed, it’s body position, it’s the way each player plays, and then the odd time you might have to drop the gloves,” Rick Tocchet said recently on the Nasty Knuckles podcast with former Flyers enforcer Riley Cote.

“Not everybody likes to do it, and I don’t promote it. It just kind of naturally happens. You want everyone to have [each other’s] backs. … I just think today’s game, you want them to stick up for each other, but you’ve also got to make sure that you can’t just be running around and doing stupid stuff, too.”

Petroski and Garbarino have been working with the team for more than a month, with about two sessions each week for whoever is around. The group even went to see Garbarino’s bout on July 25 at 2300 Arena to further immerse players in the fight world.

The 34-year-old Deslauriers, who has been in 103 regular-season fights during his 14 professional seasons, has become their honorary assistant, helping the younger players out with his own fight experience.

“As far as Nick goes, I can’t teach him the same things that I could teach some of the prospects,” Petroski said. “Obviously, Nick knows how to throw a punch, but for a lot of the prospects, they’ve never been in a fight. For some of them, just the proper mechanics of throwing a punch can be very beneficial.”

Most of the current Flyers are on the smaller side. The team is the third-shortest in the NHL and is the smallest by average weight. That’s set to change after the Flyers prioritized size in their latest draft class, but that means a big focus of Petroski and Garbarino’s lessons is how to wriggle out of someone else’s grip.

If an enforcer on another team goes for one of the Flyers’ smaller players, Garbarino and Petroski taught clinch maneuvers to keep a player at bay during a scrum.

» READ MORE: South Philly’s Johnny ‘Cannoli’ Garbarino left the Michelin-star kitchen, but he still cooks in the ring

“It’s just as important in my eyes, knowing how to really tie a guy up,” Garbarino said. “Maybe you’re not knocking him out or doing damage to him, but maybe you’re just protecting yourself and waiting for a referee to break it up. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

But most importantly, they’re teaching confidence.

“I think if you teach guys how to handle themselves in situations, it’s not even about — you know, listen, would I love to see you knock somebody out and show intimidation?" Tocchet said on the podcast. “But more, it’s good training, first of all, and it’s protecting yourself and just being able to be comfortable in that situation.”

For players who have never been in an environment in which fighting is allowed, getting into a fight scenario for the first time can be overwhelming. Petroski, Garbarino, and Deslauriers are teaching their students how to get into the right mindset on the ice if they find themselves having to square up.

“I feel like just protecting myself in general, knowing what feels like you’re protected and what really makes you protected,” Bonk said. “You might feel like you’re fine, but you’re doing something that really exposes you. These guys have really kind of drilled in our minds what real protection looks like.”

Petroski shouted out Foerster — whose offseason elbow infection came from unrelated training — for making strides with his fighting ability, while Garbarino said Bonk was one to watch on the ice next year. Bonk wasn’t so sure, but he said if he gets put in that situation, he feels he can hold his own.

“I’ve learned a lot already,” Bonk said. “I learned how to stick to the kind of fight that I want to have, kind of predict — not predict, but dictate — how the fight is going to go. I feel if I had to fight, I could, but definitely not ideal level yet.”