We’ve seen gnarly, gruesome injuries in MMA, from Jon Jones’ broken toe against Chael Sonnen to Anderson Silva’s horrific broken leg in his second fight with Chris Weidman. But at CFFC 94 on Thursday night, one fighter had an arguably even more disturbing injury: Khetag Pliev lost a finger.
Canada’s Pliev, who entered the night 5-1 against Devin Goodale, discovered the injury following the second round. Gruesome shots on the UFC Fight Pass broadcast showed a bloody stump. Pliev was later taken outside the cage, with a pack of ice pressed against the severed digit. Incredibly, he remained stoic, showing no sign of any actual pain. Perhaps he was as surprised as the rest of us. Or he simply lived up to his billing as a Terminator-like figure.
“John Morgan, where is his finger?” questioned CM Punk, on broadcast duty with MMA Junkie’s Morgan.
The broadcast later announced that “his finger just came off,” before adding that the injury happened in the first round. That may or may not be accurate, as in the second round, Goodale was seen grabbing the glove of Pliev. That led to some twisting and wrenching and hand fighting, as the ref, for reasons unknown, simply looked on.
“It wasn’t a compound fracture, it wasn’t a dislocation, a break, a laceration, his finger was just gone. It’s gone. Fell off, ripped off,” Punk later stated. There was a fair amount of confusion in the arena as to whether the digit was still in the glove, or whether it had yet to be located.
Goodale won the bout by second round TKO due to the doctor’s stoppage, not surprisingly. Pliev, obviously, was taken for further medical attention.
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.
— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) April 2, 2021
Update, 4/2 10:00 AM: Some good news – the finger has been reattached!
UPDATE: Finger reattached. #CFFC94. Khetag Pliev's finger has been successfully placed back on his hand after coming detached during #MMA competition last night. pic.twitter.com/gtXdA5GF7X
— Eric Kowal – MyMMANews.com (@MyMMANews) April 2, 2021
