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“I Almost Cut My Finger Off”: Anthony Smith Talks About Amputating his Finger to Continue Fighting

Published 02/03/2020, 9:14 PM EST

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via Imago

After a disappointing performance in the most important fight of his life, Anthony Smith bounced back with a phenomenal win over Alexander Gustafsson. However, he came out of the fight with a hand injury that led him to a decision to amputate his left index finger.

Anthony Smith was ready to cut his finger to keep fighting

In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani, Anthony Smith talked about why he decided to amputate his left index finger. Smith explained that after two surgeries he was unable to close his hand due to the scar tissues that built up. Hence to continue fighting, Smith decided to amputate his finger. That way Smith would still have been able to punch with his knuckles and grapple. Smith said:

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I almost cut my finger off. We were going to amputate my pointer finger because all the scar tissue was grabbing onto the ligament and not allowing it to close and slide back and forth. So the idea was if we amputated the finger and screwed those ligaments to that bone after it healed, then I could use the other three fingers and my thumb to grapple. And there would still technically be a knuckle there so I can still punch.

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Read: Jon Jones shuts down any possibility of Israel Adesanya beating him 

Fortunately, Smith looked for alternatives and an old lady helped Smith recover without any amputation. The treatment involved attaching electricity to the wrist and forearms of Smith to find the muscle that closes the hand. In that way, it would not put too much pressure on the already broken bones in Smith’s hand. Smith explained:

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Once we tore through all the scar tissue that first time, then we just did that every single day until I was able to get the movement back in it, and now it’s good. I’ve probably been able to close it for probably two months.

Giving an update on his hand, Smith said that he can throw punches and train now. Smith continued:

It’s as good as it’s going to get. My strength and ability to use it is 100 percent, but my hands are messes anyway. I have lots of scar tissue, lots of arthritis. It’s sore in the morning and the cold weather in Nebraska doesn’t help at all. Once it gets moving, it loosens up and feels all right.

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Well, though Anthony Smith lost the fight to Jon Jones he proved his mettle and justified his name “The Lionheart”. Well, this was yet another reason why they call him the Lionheart. Anthony Smith makes his Octagon return against Glover Teixeira on April 25 in his hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska.

 

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Written by:

Alok Nayak

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