MMA fighter Khetag Pliev suffered a brutal injury during his match on Thursday night. Pliev had his finger severed during the second round of the fight in Philadelphia. He was taking part in an event put on by Cage Fury Fighting Championship, which aired in UFC fight pass. Pliev was sent to the hospital, and the finger was surgically attached.
The referee stopped the match when he noticed that Pliev was missing his left ring finger. Officials searched for the finger for several minutes, and the PA announcer asked people inside the area to look for the finger, according to ESPN. Event promoter Rob Haydak said the finger was discovered when officials noticed it was logged inside Pliev’s glove all along.
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“They just made a PA announcement at [CFFC94] that they are trying to locate a fighter’s missing finger,” Aaron Bronsteter of Canada’s The Sports Network tweeted. “It evidently fell off into his glove during the bout and is missing somewhere in the venue.” Pliev told ESPN that he was sent to the emergency room to get the finger attached. The doctor told Pliev that he tore 50% of the tendon on the finger and that he will likely need another procedure. Pliev was taking on Devin Goodale and lost the match via TKO.
“In the second round, he caught my glove with one hand and held it,” Pliev said when talking about battling Goodale and losing the finger. “I felt my finger snapped. He kept pulling my glove and my finger snapped. We kept fighting. When the second round was finished, I see my [bone] was out in the open. I wanted to keep fighting, because I felt like I had this guy. But the doctor saw that and stopped the fight.”Pliev will appeal the fight result with the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission because of the illegal grabbing of his gloves by Goodale during the fight.
Pliev, 37, is from Russia but competed in the 2012 Olympics as a wrestler from Canada. Coming into the fight, Pliev had a 5-1 MMA record. “It was crazy,” Haydak said. “He didn’t even flinch. He was getting ready to do the [official] decision and I was like, ‘Uh, guys, get him out of the cage and go put his finger back on.’”
