All you need to know about Khetag Pliev, the MMA fighter who lost his finger at CFFC

Khetag Pliev with UFC President Dana White. (Image credit: @khetag_pliev via Instagram)
Khetag Pliev with UFC President Dana White. (Image credit: @khetag_pliev via Instagram)

The sport of Mixed Martial Arts can be extraordinarily freakish at times, as was the case for Khetag Pliev. Ever since the beginnings of MMA we have seen fighters suffering a slew of outlandish injuries, but barely anything can top the incident that happened at Cage Fury FC 94.

Khetag Pliev, a Russia-born MMA fighter, lost his ring finger in the middle of a fight last night. The 37-year-old apparently had no clue about the bizarre occurrence until the referee noticed Pilev's ring finger amazingly wasn't attached to his hand anymore.

(Graphic warning: Pliev's injury might be disturbing to some readers. Click here to see the injury)

The fight was stopped immediately and Khetag Pliev's opponent, Devin Goodale, was declared the winner via technical knockout.

Recalling the event in the post-fight interview, Goodale told CM Punk he couldn't remember anything about the incident.

"I can’t remember anything, I don’t know. I got hit by something big, I don’t remember what happened. I’m just being honest. I don’t remember what happened. I’ll have to watch the tape myself," said Goodale.

ESPN's Marc Raimondi later took to Twitter and provided an update on Pliev's finger, which was reattached.

Khetag Pliev competed at the 2012 London Olympics in freestyle wrestling

Khetag Pliev was born on February 20, 1984, in the republic of North Ossetia–Alania. He then moved to Canada and represented the country in some of the grandest sporting events, including the Olympics.

Pliev's venture into the sport of MMA began in the latter part of his career. Prior to his MMA journey, the 37-year-old was a decorated freestyle wrestler. He won the freestyle wrestling national tournament in Canada on a total of four occasions (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011).

Pliev's success in freestyle wrestling unfolded into an opportunity to compete at the Olympics. He represented Canada at the 2012 London Olympics and he finished 10th in the finals of the 96 kg weight category (freestyle wrestling). Pliev also won a silver medal at the Pan-American Games in Florida in 2012.

After quitting freestyle wrestling, Pliev tried his hand at MMA. He made his debut against Cristiano Silva in a local Brazilian MMA promotion in 2015, and secured a submission victory in the first round.

He put three more victories under his belt before being stopped by Vitaliy Nemchinov in his fifth professional MMA fight. At Cage Fury FC, Khetag Pliev was arguably fighting in the biggest promotion of his life. However, things clearly didn't turn out well for the former Canadian National Champion.

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Edited by James Sullivan