Chael Sonnen explains why Conor McGregor's rumored staph infection is nothing to be worried about

Conor McGregor tends to grab heads every time he does something, and when he uploaded a seemingly normal photo of himself on a bike, he sent his fans into a worrying frenzy.

In the build-up to his fight against Dustin Poirier, Conor McGregor fans thought that he was suffering from a possible staph infection in the photo. However, he has since revealed that it was nothing more than some "vicious brain-damaging elbows."

Former UFC fighter Chael Sonnen also made a video on the subject and revealed his thoughts on the whole situation. He talked about varying staph infections and took the example of Vinny Magalhaes, who was hospitalized due to one.

However, he added that staph infections were very common for him and lasted for one or two days, after which he was fine. Sonnen explained that if Conor McGregor could pose with his shirt off and train, it wouldn't have been serious even if it was an infection. He said:

"You don't start, in my experience, with a staph infection that progresses, and all of a sudden, you're hospitalized. It's right off the bat. How do we realize that Conor has the one that we're shrugging our shoulders? Even if he has it, let's pretend that he has it. The mere fact that he was out, that he was training, taking his shirt off to take the picture in the first place, tells at least me, with my experience with staph, that he's got the later one. He's got the one - couple days of antibiotics, and you brush it off."

Watch the full video here:

Conor McGregor and his apparent staph infection

Caused by staphylococcus bacteria, staph is contracted primarily from human or ground surface contact. Upon infection, the skin that has come into contact will become red and swollen with a pocket of pus around the area. If left untreated, it could prove fatal in severe cases as well.

Fortunately, Conor McGregor fans have nothing to worry about, and his fight against Dustin Poirier is still intact. However, Sean O'Malley's opponent Louis Smolka was not so lucky as he had to be ruled out of UFC 264 due to a staph infection.

O'Malley will now face UFC debutant Kris Moutinho on July 10.

Sean O'Malley is currently without an opponent for UFC 264 after Louis Smolka withdrew due to a staph infection, Smolka’s manager told @marc_raimondi.Smolka's withdrawal was first reported by Ariel Helwani and UFC is looking for a replacement to fight O’Malley, sources said. pic.twitter.com/KOEVIvPHQW

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) June 29, 2021