UFC 248: Israel Adesanya addresses rumors of a possible staph infection

Recently, a video emerged of a mark on Israel Adesanya's hand that seemingly resembled a staph infection. He's set to take on Yoel Romero in his first defense of the Middleweight Championship since unifying it in October 2019 at UFC 243.

👀 Israel Adesanya’s arm (full video by Combat TV: https://t.co/yPMAWGDHsH) #UFC248 pic.twitter.com/49INp8qbmY

— Borrachinha Depot (@FullContactMTWF) March 1, 2020

Since Paulo Costa isn't available due to an injury, Adesanya demanded Romero as his next challenger and got his wish.

It's not unusual for fighters to work through injuries and illnesses heading into a fight, especially when it's a main event spot as big as this one. When asked about a possible staph infection on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show (H/T BJPENN.com), the Champion denied it saying:

“It’s just a little something, a little scrape of myself. That s**t happens, but whatever.”

He added that he has never had a staph infection before:

“A little something. I’ve never had staph. I never will. I’ve had malaria damn near eight times. I don’t know what else I’ve had. Like you think staph’s going to f**k with me?”

Hopefully, he's not lying about it because a staph infection is dangerous and difficult to fight through. Kevin Lee had a visible staph infection when fighting Tony Ferguson in 2017 and it affected his performance in a big way.

Although Romero lost 3 out of his last 4 fights, he's still considered to be the most dangerous man in the Middleweight division.

Tune into Sportskeeda this Saturday night/Sunday morning for our coverage of UFC 248!