One of the most sickening injuries ever seen in combat sport has played out during a live fight broadcast on Friday afternoon.
There was horror across the MMA world when Canadian fighter Khetag Pliev removed his fighting glove at the end of the second round to show the ring finger on his left hand had been ripped clean off his hand.
The gruesome injury during the Cage Fury Fighting Championships 94 event was broadcast around the world on the UFC Fight Pass streaming platform.
According to reports, 37-year-old Pliev, suffered the injury in the first round after trying to block a high leg kick with his hands.
Some MMA commentators believe the finger was immediately detached from the hand, however, there is also speculation it took a second blow — delivered in the second round — to dislodge the broken finger.
Khetag Pliev's finder was clean off. Photo / Twitter / Instagram
Either way, Pliev's ability to continue fighting with just four fingers on his hand resulted in the story spreading across the internet like wildfire on Friday.
Khetag was forced to throw in the towel at the end of the second round when the reality of his injury first sunk in, resulting in opponent Devin Goodale being awarded the win via a TKO at the end of the second round.
WWE star and MMA commentator CM Punk told the live broadcast: "It wasn't a compound fracture, a break, it wasn't a dislocation, a break, a laceration. His finger was just gone. It's gone".
The footage was not played again after the broadcast realised what the cameras had captured.
The bloody stump was all that was left.
Before the fight result was made official, there was anarchy as it soon emerged that nobody could find Pliev's finger.
The missing body part resulted in the stadium announcer inside Philadelphia's 2300 Arena indoor stadium asking for the fans in attendance sitting near the front row to search around them for the finger.
However, after a crazy moment of time, members from Pliev's corner soon located the finger, which had stayed inside the glove when he took it off.
According to reports from journalists in attendance, Pliev and the finger were on Friday afternoon taken to a nearby hospital to have the finger re-attached.
The full drama of the incident can be seen in the bewilderment of the commentators calling the action.
Commentators after the fight speculated the broken finger could have been dislodged during a section of the fight where Goodale had Pliev trapped on the side of the cage.
Pliev made an official complaint to the referee about Goodale holding his glove, resulting in an official warning being handed to Goodale.
