Anthony Smith almost made the decision to have his finger amputated.
There’s no denying that it takes a certain level of toughness to step inside the cage. It’s especially true when competing at an elite level such as the UFC. Smith has taken that toughness to another level.
Anthony Smith Considered Amputating Finger
“Lionheart” spoke to Ariel Helwani on how he struggled to close his hand following two surgeries.
“I had two [surgeries],” Smith said. “The first one failed. I went into my six-week checkup after my first surgery and the plate was broken and the bone had shifted back again… So they went back in, they took the plate off, they drilled one hole in my femur, one in my shin, and they took out the spongy bone material they used for bone grafts in my hand and then they put another plate on the side of it instead of on top because there are so many large holes. So they put it on the side and then filled the holes with the spongy bone from my leg. So that was a rough one. Then I couldn’t close my hand for probably two months. My left hand.”
The UFC light heavyweight said it got to the point where he almost had his finger amputated so that he’d no longer have to deal with the issue.
“I almost cut my finger off,” Smith continued. “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 that if we amputated the finger and then screwed those ligaments to the bone after it healed, that I could still use the other three fingers and my thumb to grapple but there would still technically be a knuckle there so I could punch.”
Luckily for Smith, he didn’t have to go that route. A physical therapist was able to solve the problem and “Lionheart” is now ready to do battle against Glover Teixeira at UFC Lincoln on April 25.
(h/t MMAFighting for the transcribed quotes)
