'Was just gone': Gruesome severed finger shocks MMA world

MMA fans were left feeling squeamish after a horrifying injury left a fighter searching for his own detached finger.

In graphic and horrifying scenes from the Cage Fury Fighting Championships 94, Canadian fighter Khetag Pliev removed his glove after the second round to reveal his left ring finger was gone.

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The 37-year-old fighter reportedly suffered the injury in the first round of his bout against Devin Goodale, blocking a high kick.

Pliev also blocked a second high kick in the second round, some some speculating that subsequent kick also did some of the damage in dislodging the broken finger.

Despite somehow managing to fight an entire round before revealing the gruesome injury, Pliev was forced to throw in the towel and hand Goodale a TKO victory.

However the end of the fight was just the beginning of the gruesome ordeal, with a scramble to find the missing digit erupting before the fight was even officially called.

CONTENT WARNING: GRAPHIC FOOTAGE

A stadium announcer at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, which hosted the fight, had to call for fans seated closest to the ring to check nearby for the missing finger.

Fortunately, the finger had remained in Pliev's glove, with the Canadian fighter able to be rushed to hospital to have the finger reattached.

Former WWE star CM Punk, who was commentating the match, was in utter disbelief at what had unfolded.

“It wasn’t a compound fracture, a break, it wasn’t a dislocation, a break, a laceration," he said.

"His finger was just gone. It’s gone."

Fortunately for Pliev, he was able to have the finger successfully reattached, telling MMA Fighting he anticipated getting back into the ring.

“I’m doing better,” Pliev told MMA Fighting. “I went to the emergency [room] from the fight this morning, had a good doctor named Maggie Wilson and she attached my finger back, sewed it back.

“It was hanging on the skin. They cut the glove off, put it back and now I’m in the cast.”

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The UFC hopeful could yet have the TKO result overturned, with Pliev's coach Joey Patterson suggesting the injury was caused in part by Goodale grabbing at Pliev's glove after a takedown.

Patterson said Pliev knew he'd injured his finger, but had attempted to fight through it until doctors called off the fight.

Pliev also said he felt his finger 'snap' when his glove was grabbed.

“What happened was Khetag got the takedown—and this is all on film—and when he has the takedown, (Goodale) reaches under and grabs his glove and starts pulling illegally on his glove, causing Khetag’s finger to lodge," he said.

"Once the finger lodged and they came back up to their feet throwing punches, Khetag has a very hard punch and he threw it. The finger was already bent and caught in there, it caused the finger to sever.

"The finger didn’t completely sever. There’s a lot of different speculation out there, people saying, ‘Oh, he lost his finger.’ The finger was hanging by a thread, hanging by the skin, but it was lodged inside the glove.

“At that point he finished the round, came back, and didn’t say anything. He kept at it, tried to hide it, that’s when the doctors noticed it and had to stop it.”

Pliev himself posted on Instagram after his successful surgery, thanking his surgeon.

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