Anthony Smith Nearly Amputated His Finger To Keep Fighting

Anthony Smith nearly cut his finger off to save his fighting career.

“Lionheart” was recently a guest on “The Ariel Helwani MMA Show,” and detailed his recent hand issues, which required two surgeries to repair. Smith apparently injured his hand during his submission win over Alexander Gustafsson in Sweden last June. It was his first victory since his defeat to Jon Jones for the UFC light heavyweight title at UFC 235.

Smith’s initial surgery failed, which forced doctors to put him under the knife once more to seemingly solve the issue. However, Smith had issues making a fist after the second surgery. (H/T MMA Fighting)

“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.”

Even months after the second surgery, Smith was still having issues trying to make a fist, as his index finger refused to close. Smith almost amputated his finger so he could resume his fighting career.

“I almost cut my finger off,” Smith said. “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.”

Thankfully, Smith crossed paths with a physical therapist, who he called a “crazy old lady,” who used some form of electric therapy on Smith’s hand to solve the issue. In hindsight, he’s thankful his wife and the UFC encouraged him to seek other forms of treatment for his finger before amputating it.

“Some crazy old lady did this different type of therapy where they attached electricity to my wrist and my forearm and moved it around and was able to catch the muscle that closes the hand and really, she just crushed through the scar tissue,” Smith said. “So once she put electricity to it, it forced my hand closed – because the bone was still healing and by forcefully closing it, you’re putting a lot of tension on that break.

“I couldn’t close it myself because I didn’t have the strength, and as I’m not moving it, the scar tissue just continues to build and build and build so by attaching electricity to it, it’s essentially me closing my own hand without someone else doing it with all that tension on the break. So once we tore through all that scar tissue the first time, we just did that every single day until I was able to get the movement back in it and now it’s good… I was ready to go but my wife and the UFC wanted to explore other options first.

“So that crazy lady saved my finger for sure. I was ready just to say screw it all, I’m sick of this rehab stuff and scraping the scar tissue out of it and continually opening my hand up to get the scar tissue out. I was just ready to get back to fighting and cutting my finger off, at that time, was the fastest way.”

Now, Smith is set to make his return to action. He’ll headline the UFC Lincoln card from the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska on April 25. Smith takes on fellow former light heavyweight title challenger Glover Teixeira, who is currently on a three-fight win streak.

Should Smith get past the Brazilian veteran in April, he could find himself back in the hunt for a shot at the light heavyweight throne, and, perhaps, a chance to once again attempt to hand Jon Jones his first defeat. That is, if this man doesn’t do it first.

What do you think about Smith nearly amputating his finger as an option to keep fighting?