Does Conor McGregor have a staph infection in the lead up to UFC 264?

With Conor McGregor's much-anticipated trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 rapidly approaching, a picture posted by 'The Notorious' on social media left fans worried about a possible staph infection.

Turns out, Conor McGregor does not have a staph infection after all.

Conor McGregor shared a picture of himself biking outdoors a few days ago, possibly as part of his training regime for the fight, which showed a small but quite vivid reddish-brown bruise mark on his left elbow. The scar was quite visible as Conor McGregor posed for the picture flexing his arms.

The picture immediately left eagle-eyed fans concerned, who thought the mark could be a sign of a staph infection.

However, Conor McGregor has recently cleared the air on the matter. In response to a fan on Twitter who asked if he indeed had a staph infection, Conor McGregor responded that he did not, and it was just bruising from vigorous training of elbow strikes.

"No. Just vicious brain damaging elbows," Conor McGregor wrote.

No. Just vicious brain damaging elbows.

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) July 2, 2021

The clarification should come as good news for fans looking forward to seeing Conor McGregor bring his best against Dustin Poirier on July 10 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

That being said, fans being alarmed over the Irishman possibly contracting a staph infection are not entirely baseless.

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Has Conor McGregor ever contracted staph infection?

MMA fighters are always at a high risk of getting infected with staph because of the close-contact nature of the sport.

Caused by staphylococcus bacteria, staph is contracted primarily from human or ground surface contact. Upon infection, the skin that has come into contact will become red and swollen with a pocket of pus around the area. If left untreated, it could prove fatal in severe cases as well.

Conor McGregor has never had a staph infection during his MMA career, or if he did, the information was not made public. However, several MMA fighters have missed out on their scheduled bouts over the years due to staph infections.

One of the more critical cases that the UFC has seen was of Robert Whittaker. The Australian had a staph infection in his stomach ahead of his title defense fight against Luke Rockhold in 2018. It took 'The Reaper' over a year to recover from the infection.

Most recently, Louis Smolka had to withdraw from his UFC 264 bantamweight clash against Sean O'Malley because of a staph infection as well. He was replaced by newcomer Kris Moutinho.