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An MMA fighter lost his finger during the first round of his latest bout but went on to fight another round anyway, until the referee stopped the action after the second round. Russian MMA star Khetag Pliev lost his bout to Devin Goodale at Cage Fury Fighting Championships 94 on Thursday night in Philadelphia. The contest was stopped due to the 37-year-old Pliev losing his finger in the middle of the fight.
You can watch a short video clip that shows the fighter missing his finger below.
One user posted, “I know it’s April Fools but this actually happened, Khetag Pliev deada** lost his finger sometime during the 1st round and this dude STILL went out & fought another round!! apparently the finger is still ‘missing’ in the Philadelphia Arena.”
Here’s a longer version of the video:
In the video, the referee can be seen frantically searching in the fighter’s glove for the missing digit, but he does not find it. The fight was stopped once it became clear what had just happened.
Later, the incident led to perhaps the wildest announcement made inside an arena in MMA history.
Per Aaron Bronstetor, “They just made a PA announcement at #CFFC94 that they are trying to locate a fighter’s missing finger. It evidently fell off into his glove during the bout and is missing somewhere in the venue.”
They just made a PA announcement at #CFFC94 that they are trying to locate a fighter’s missing finger.
It evidently fell off into his glove during the bout and is missing somewhere in the venue.
Color commentator Phil Brooks, also known as CM Punk, said during the telecast, “…We’re not gonna replay it for you, ladies and gentlemen, but it wasn’t a compound fracture. It wasn’t a dislocation, a break, a laceration. His finger was just gone. It’s gone. It fell off, ripped off!”
Fight is stopped due to finger being chopped off a hand. Not a joke. FINGER RIPPED OFF A HAND #cffc94
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Finger Lost?
It’s no joke. The fighter lost his finger, and he lost the fight.
Maybe the worst part? He couldn’t immediately find his missing finger, and nobody else could seem to find it either.
MMA Sucka’s Timothy Wheaton posted an update about the surreal event. Wheaton posted, “Khetag Pliev has a severed finger, finger is fully lost. They checked under the cage. They asked the audience to help search for the missing finger.”
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Finger Found!
While several minutes went by where basically the entire arena had to stop what they were doing to look for the fighter’s missing finger, the missing digit was eventually found inside the fighter’s glove and it was sent with the fighter to the hospital.
CFFC President Rob Haydek eventually addressed the incident.
“How bizarre was that,” Haydek said per MMA Fighting. “When the fight ended, I heard. I was at cageside, obviously. I went inside and they were like, ‘His finger’s missing.’ I was like, ‘I understand it’s April Fool’s day …’ And then I look down and it literally was just bone.”
Haydek explained, “… We thought it was outside the cage, we had no idea, and they’re saying it’s actually inside the glove. So how does that happen if he’s pulling the finger out? So I’m anxious to see the video, play it back multiple times from different camera angles, and really see what happened there because that is absolutely bizarre.”
Finger Reattached [LOOK]
MMA is already considered to be one of the most brutal and violent sports in the world.
It’s too much so for some, but others find the sport alluring because it’s filled with some of the bravest and most intense athletes out there.
ESPN’s Marc Raimondi offered an update that should only enhance that brand going forward.
Raimondi reported the fighter’s finger had been reattached, but that all he wanted to talk about was that the fight had been stopped.
Raimondi posted, “By the way, when I spoke to him Pliev was much more unhappy about the fact that the fight was stopped than the reality that his left ring finger was torn clean off. He wanted to keep fighting.”
The journalist also shared a photo of the finger being right back where it belongs.
CFFC 94 aired live via UFC Fight Pass.
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