Conor McGregor Denies Having Staph Infection When Asked By a Fan

UFC icon and former dual division champion Conor McGregor is gearing up to face Dustin Poirier in a blockbuster trilogy clash at UFC 264. The ‘Notorious’ one will face the ‘Diamond’ for the second time this year after colliding at UFC 257.

The headlining event has many things at stake for McGregor apart from the bragging rights. He will be on a mission to prove that he still got it in him after some setbacks in his last few fights.

He has been training for the same rigorously and fans could spot his work ethic in some of his latest videos and pics. During one such instance, he posted a pic of his where he could be seen riding a bicycle and flexing his muscles.

This particular picture caught the attention of some hawk-eyed fans. The reason for that was McGregor had a swollen reddish-brown bruise mark on his left elbow. The eager fans started speculating about it as a mark of staph infection.

Many of those even tweeted the ‘Notorious’ one about the same. However, McGregor, in a retweet to one of his fans, replied, “No, Just vicious brain damaging elbows.”

No. Just vicious brain damaging elbows.

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) July 2, 2021

According to McGregor, he incurred the mark during his training. The news comes as a breath of relief to his fans and also the ones who will tune in to watch him fight at UFC 264.

READ MORE: Sean O’Malley, Michael Bisping, Kamaru Usman, And Others Predict Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier 3

If not Conor McGregor, has anybody else suffered from staph disease?

Staph disease is a very vicious disease and is common with combat sports athletes. It spreads because of the close contact nature of the sport either with other fighters or with the ground.

Staphylococcus bacteria is the reason behind this. As mentioned above, it comes from human or ground contact. After the infection, the skin turns reddish-brown with a swell and will have a pocket of pus around the area. It could even turn fatal if not treated at the earliest.

Though McGregor has denied that, one fighter who was scheduled for a fight at UFC 264, Louis Smolka, has withdrawn from the event possibly because of this infection. Newcomer Kris Moutinho will replace him and fight against Sean O’Malley.

Robert Whittaker out of UFC 221 with injury, Luke Rockhold to fight Yoel Romero for interim title https://t.co/h6EPTrN9xz pic.twitter.com/H6J82XvbZj

— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) January 13, 2018

Harking back to an incident from the past, former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker fell victim to this disease. ‘The Reaper‘ had a staph infection in his stomach that didn’t allow him to defend his title against Luke Rockhold in 2018.

It took him a year to get through that and return to the octagon.

Poirier vs McGregor 3- Winner to fight for the lightweight title

With just over a week to decide who will claim the bragging rights, the pressure will be at an all-time high in both camps. The stakes are bigger than before.

The winner of the bout is a certainty for the title fight against the newly crowned champion Charles Oliveira next. McGregor (22-5) has more on the line compared to Poirier. Many people have written him off and he has to find a way to silence the critics.

Who do you see prevailing in the end?

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