Dricus du Plessis stays tight-lipped on UFC 312 health scare and weighs in on Sean Strickland’s staph infection: "You know there’s something"

Dricus du Plessis successfully defended his middleweight title against Sean Strickland at UFC 312 on Feb. 8. It was a rematch of their UFC 297 title fight, which saw 'Stillknocks' make history by becoming the first South African champion in promotional history.

Ahead of the rematch between the middleweight duo, theories about Strickland suffering from a staph infection began swirling after a wound was spotted on his left arm.

During UFC 312 fight week 'Tarzan' denied any notion that he had a staph infection. But after losing to Du Plessis via split decision, the American confirmed that he had suffered from a staph infection during his fight camp for their title rematch.

The middleweight champion was recently interviewed by Ariel Helwani following his second successful title defense. He was asked to share his thoughts on Strickland's staph infection and said:

"It was clearly staph. It wasn't a new staph [infection], I could see that... When you fight, you know that there's something about your opponent that's not 100%. It's a fact. Yeah, he had staph. I had something else. It doesn't really matter. When you sign the contract, when you get into the octagon, there is no excuse that warrants anything. When you get into the octagon, you signed the dotted line that you are here to fight."

Catch Dricus du Plessis' comments below (7:40):

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Belal Muhammad fires back at Dricus du Plessis' prediction for their fight

Belal Muhammad, the current welterweight champion, recently shared his interest in moving to 185 pounds to challenge Dricus du Plessis for his crown. Muhammad's statement also came in light of Islam Makhachev's desire to move to welterweight and compete for the 170-pound title.

With 'Remember the Name' being a friend and part-time teammate of Makhachev's, he has little interest in facing the Dagestani. Instead, he would opt to relinquish the welterweight title to create space for Makhachev and move to middleweight himself.

During Du Plessis' aforementioned interview with Ariel Helwani, he was informed of Muhammad's comments and asked to share a prediction for the potential matchup. 'Stillknocks' said:

"I step on his head and it's over."

The 36-year old came across the South African's prediction online and replied with the following:

"He can barely walk without tripping over his own feet he ain't touching me."

Catch Belal Muhammad's response to Dricus du Plessis below: