UFC 302: Curse Of The Staph Infection?

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UFC 302 might just be suffering a very specific curse.

Earlier this week, Islam Makhachev’s fight week photos caused a panic amongst the fanbase, as there’s a mysterious hole on his shin bone. Conor McGregor immediately diagnosed the wound as staph, attacking the entire Dagestan crew for failing to wash themselves and their mats. Makhachev denied the accusations, but it hasn’t stopped concern from rising ahead of his title defense against Dustin Poirier, which is scheduled as the UFC 302 main event.

Now, there’s additional worry surrounding the co-main event. Once again, fight week photos have circulated, and this time eagle-eyed fight fans noticed something wonky about Paulo Costa’s left foot. There’s a visible wound, and another fan online spotted previous footage of Costa wrapping up the wound with a covering.

Reactions online were mixed. Some believe it’s a staph infection, while others like UFC Middleweight contender Chris Curtis argued “That’s a mat burn.” Here’s a sample of the reactions from X:

Bratha, whole card have staph

That thing is huge man

So he aint calf kicking which was an advantage to beating Sean.

Paulo is incapable of staph. Secret juice kill all staph.

Staff infections boutta 10-7 this whole card

Looks more like leprosy

Bro they don’t sanitize the gyms?

There are a lot of reasons for concern here. Primarily, Paulo Costa was forced to withdraw from his planned bout versus Khamzat Chimaev after multiple staph-related complications, including a gaping hole in his elbow. Staph has a tricky habit of recurring, and if Costa’s training environment resulted in an infection once, another case is certainly possible.

Not long ago, fans speculated about Benoit Saint Denis’ forehead and were later proven correct. Saint Denis’ conditioning was obviously affected, which didn’t help his chances against Dustin Poirier, who knocked him flat in the second round.

Hopefully, Costa and Makhachev are entering their UFC 302 matches in better shape.

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