Israel Adesanya Dismisses Staph Infection Concerns Ahead of Title Defense at UFC 248

Some concerning images of Israel Adesanya began making the rounds ahead of his middleweight title defense against Yoel Romero at UFC 248.

In video interview with Combat TV conducted on Feb. 29, Adesanya appears to have a wound of some type on his left forearm. That led to speculation in the MMA community that “The Last Stylebender” is suffering from a staph infection. Adesanya laughed off any concerns that the wound would put the UFC 248 headliner in jeopardy during an appearance on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show on Monday.

"It's just a little something, a little scrape of myself," he said. "That s---t happens, but whatever. I’ll rub it on his face when it’s time.”

Adesanya claims that the wound hasn’t affected his preparation and that he didn’t take any antibiotics to treat it.

"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--- with me?

"I looked at it and went 'no,' and it went away.”

Adesanya will be making his first middleweight title defense after claiming the belt with a second-round knockout of Robert Whittaker at UFC 243 this past October. The Nigerian-born Kiwi is 7-0 in the UFC and 18-0 as a professional overall.