Paulo Costa, despite coming off a (unanimous decision albeit valiant) loss to Robert Whittaker is on the cusp of fighting for the title. Scheduled to face the former middleweight champion Sean Strickland at UFC 302 on Saturday, a win over him would make a very strong case for Costa to fight for the title in the near future.

Interestingly, he could have been in the above-mentioned position of being close to fighting for the title already if he had not pulled out of his UFC 294 bout against Khamzat Chimaev. The Brazilian contracted a bad case of staph infection weeks before the Abu Dhabi card. His infection got so bad that he was forced to undergo surgery to treat it properly. And with rumors circulating that he was suffering from the infection again, many feared they would see a repeat of UFC 294 ahead of his Strickland fight. But Costa has assured fans this is not the case.

Paulo Costa addresses staph infection rumors

Paulo Costa has somewhat of a reputation for pulling out of fights. In fact, his proclivity for withdrawing from bouts had been pointed out by Sean Strickland, who observed in a recent video that the Brazilian had withdrawn from bouts three times since ‘Borrachinha’s 2020 UFC 253 loss to then-champion Israel Adesanya.

Fans were thus worried they would be getting a repeat of the UFC 294 fiasco as fans spotted Costa with a mark on his foot, which they felt might be another staph infection. However, seeing the fans panic over this, he chose to nip the rumors and speculations in the bud.

“I haven’t Staph it’s only burned skin on the mat I’m ok 👍 mtfks,” he wrote on X.

Costa posted a picture of the alleged infected part on his foot and tried to reassure fans that it was not actually a staph infection, but a mat burn from his practice sessions. And while one never knows what may happen next with Costa, it seems he is all in on fighting Strickland at UFC 302 on Saturday, based on his conduct in their recent press conference. There, he agreed with Strickland and promised fans that they would go to war and ‘bleed’ for them in their co-main event bout. However, with the event drawing closer, Costa was not the only one hit with staph infection rumors.

Islam Makhachev clarifies he is ‘100 percent’ going into UFC 302

In the promotional material released for UFC 302, keen-eyed fans spotted a mark on lightweight champion Islam Makhachev‘s knee, which they took to be a staph infection, common especially among grapplers. On being asked about it in the pre-fight press conference, Makhachev assuaged fans’s fears.

While the lightweight champ did not address whether or not he had a staph infection, he promised fans that he was in good health and coming off of a top-notch fight camp. “Don’t worry guys, I have very well training camp. Nothing bother me and I will be ready 100 percent,” he told the media ahead of UFC 302.

And Makhachev will certainly need to be one hundred percent given who his opponent is. The Dagestani will face the legend himself, Dustin Poirier, who is one of the best strikers in the UFC, in the main event at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. To make matters worse for the champ, ‘Diamond’ has admitted that he sees this as his last chance at becoming a UFC champion.

This means that he is going into the bout with a do-or-die mindset, ready to put it all on the line for a chance at UFC immortality. And if fighting, as Mike Tyson claims, is mostly mental, that makes Poirier perhaps the most formidable opponent Makhachev has faced so far.