UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya’s health may be compromised with under a week to go for his first title defense.
Adesanya defends his middleweight crown against Yoel Romero in the UFC 248 headliner on March 7 in Las Vegas. It’s a fight “The Last Stylebender” specifically asked for despite Romero virtually being the boogeyman of the division.
Although Adesanya is confident in his abilities, he will need to be at 100 percent if he is to put away the Cuban. That doesn’t seem to be the case according to a recent interview.
As pointed out by a Twitter user, Adesanya’s arm appears to have a lump on it which seems indicative of a staph infection.
You can see a screenshot of it below:
Of course, it’s hard to be completely sure. Given Adesanya’s social media prowess, he may put any speculation to rest before the end of the day.
However, it would certainly be worrisome if it is indeed staph. As most would recall, Kevin Lee had a staph infection on his chest leading up to his interim lightweight title fight with Tony Ferguson back in 2017. It drained him of his cardio and stamina and ultimately contributed to his defeat.
It’s notable that Lee also had to mask the infection with makeup so that the commission wouldn’t prevent him from fighting.
Hopefully, this fight ends up going through and whatever is on Adesanya’s arm is nothing serious that could hinder his performance in the fight.
Do you think Adesanya has a staph infection?