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Kalib Starnes' Side of the Story

Fight Network has it:

Starnes told The Fight Network that he requested his release from the remainder of his UFC contract, which had been carried over from his appearance on "The Ultimate Fighter" reality series and ensured him three fights per year.

"[UFC matchmaker] Joe Silva told me that it usually takes a couple of days for their legal department to complete the paperwork and that he would send me all of the paperwork to indicate that my contract has been dissolved," Starnes said. "Later on in the afternoon, after I had spoken to Joe Silva, a story was released by some reporter from Yahoo! in which Dana White said that he had released me from my contract. I received no documentation on that, and it came after I asked to be released."

Starnes - who dropped a unanimous decision to Quarry and was booed by his fellow Canadians for failing to engage - called White's comments unprofessional and inappropriate.

"In my opinion, it was inappropriate to make public statements regarding my character and my future and so on the way that he has, especially without having the courage and the respect to call me up and speak with me personally," Starnes said. "All of these comments come from a man that has never had a fight in his entire life who claims to be the ultimate authority on fighting and courage. I couldn't be happier than to be released from the most oppressive contract I've ever been under in my life."

According to the American Top Team-trained fighter, injuries led to his switch from an offensive to defensive mode against Quarry. For a majority of the fight, Starnes back pedaled out of harm's way and away from his opponent's dangerous punches. A former challenger for the UFC middleweight championship, Quarry battered Starnes with leg kicks throughout the three-round bout.

"Right now, I have a broken foot [that] I sustained with the first kick I threw in the fight," Starnes said. "My leg is purple and black from my knee up, I have a black eye, a sprained jaw, and he's questioning my desire to fight? If that isn't enough to satisfy him and the crowd, I can show them the medical report. I can barely walk. [Quarry] totally destroyed my thigh with those kicks. I'm sure a lot of people would rather see me suffer a traumatic brain injury and be rendered unconscious. That's too bad. If that's what they want, they're paying the wrong guy $10,000 to get his brain smashed in."

Starnes then invited White to walk a few feet in his shoes.

"Dana White wouldn't stand and trade with a guy [like Quarry] who had an 80 or 90 percent knockout ratio with injuries like I had Saturday night," Starnes said. "He wouldn't cross the street for $10,000. I don't have anything to prove to anybody. I'm not about to stand there and get smashed to pieces. After I knew my foot was broken, I was trying to back up and work off the jab and keep moving so I didn't get knocked out."

Thanks to BE reader Brett Jones for the revealing .gif

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Re: Kalib Starnes' Side of the Story
Man, I've got to say that this comes off really poorly.  Broken foot or not, he is basically sounding like "I didn't want to get knocked out so I backpedaled all night" and I ALWAYS hate fighters blaming the fans or non-fighters and saying "they're not in there fighting so they can't say anything."

It is right in a lot of ways...but it isn't a smart thing to say.

Between the way he fought, the whole "fucking faggot" incident, and his post-fight comments I really am finding myself not caring for Kalib at all.

by Brent Brookhouse on Apr 22, 2008 2:54 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Re: Kalib Starnes' Side of the Story
Agreed.  If you aren't physically able to continue, throw in the towel.  If you can continue, you have to mount some sort of offence.  Look at Brandon Vera vs. Tim Silvia.  It was a shit boring fight, but Vera found a way to engage despite a broken hand.  Couture fucked up Gonzaga with a broken forearm.  That's not to say that it didn't hurt, or it wasn't hindering Starnes; no one can judge that but him.  But if an injury means you basically can't FIGHT (you know, since fighting involves trying to throw punches and shit), then admit it and take the loss.  What was the point in stringing it out?

by AJB on Apr 22, 2008 3:21 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Re: Kalib Starnes' Side of the Story
Or Frank Shamrock vs Cung Le -- Frank's arm got broken in the first round. The fans still got 3 great rounds of action and Frank acquitted himself bravely and well.

by Kid Nate on Apr 22, 2008 3:36 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Re: Kalib Starnes' Side of the Story
And once he couldn't fight effectively...he threw in the towel.  There is no shame in that.

by Brent Brookhouse on Apr 22, 2008 3:42 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Re: Kalib Starnes' Side of the Story
Wait, what? It was broken in the first round? Anyway, I agree that if you can't fight you should throw in the towel, not just run away. At the same time, I hate hearing Dana White call any fighter a pussy or a poseur.

by FRANKIE on Apr 22, 2008 3:45 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Re: Kalib Starnes' Side of the Story
Yeah, I question the logic of someone prolonging the inevitable.  Did he really think he'd get lucky and knock out Quarry with one of his jabs while moving backwards?  He wasted everyone's time by not throwing in the towel, and made that part of the show look silly to casual fans.  I don't hate him for it though.

by IImastersII on Apr 22, 2008 3:47 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Re: Kalib Starnes' Side of the Story
This is another situation where being on TUF may have hurt Kalib. Having to exit the fight against Grove with a rib separation got a lot of flak from Shamrock thinking that Kalib had no heart. Now against Quarry he doesn't quit but puts on a poor showing. Seems like a no-win situation. His injury against Grove was pretty serious but to most people they don't know the whole story so him quitting against Quarry would be more ammunition for the "Kalib has no heart" moniker. What I have a problem with is the fact he: 1) refused to throw in the town after round 2 2) resorted to name calling and even attempting to fight Quarry's team when they expressed their displeasure 3) refused to at least talk to the crowd and explain the situation, or get his team to explain to the commentators that Starnes had a serious foot injury. He came off poorly, didn't explain his situation, had a history of situations where he was injured and didn't give any indication of it. I'm not surprised that the crowd and White cut into him.

by pr0cs on Apr 22, 2008 3:50 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Re: Kalib Starnes' Side of the Story
Yeah, the yelling at the corner men doesn't really do much to raise my opinion of the man.

by FRANKIE on Apr 22, 2008 3:54 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Re: Kalib Starnes' Side of the Story
Perfectly rational thought process, I would probably do the same, however, mma fighters can't be rational, just like in the NFL and NHL.  It would make for a lousy sport.  He needs to consider a new line of work.

by bloodyelbowReader on Apr 22, 2008 3:52 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Re: Kalib Starnes' Side of the Story
That guy is such a crybaby.  People who complain about how much money they're paid are pathetic.  I mean, the son of a bitch signed a contract.  Did he not know how much the contract was going to pay him when he signed it?  Is he mentally retarded or something?  Fuck him.  He should have thrown in the towel if he couldn't fight.  I hope he never fights again, but I'm sure we'll see him sign with some smaller org where he'll be trading on his time with the UFC for the rest of his career.

by Richard Wade on Apr 22, 2008 5:12 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Re: Kalib Starnes' Side of the Story
"Right now, I have a broken foot [that] I sustained with the first kick I threw in the fight,"

Really, Kalib?

by Brett Jones on Apr 22, 2008 5:26 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Re: Kalib Starnes' Side of the Story
How in the world did you get this so fast?

by szucconi on Apr 22, 2008 5:30 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Re: Kalib Starnes' Side of the Story
If you break your foot, how do you run backwards for over 12 minutes?  Wouldn't a takedown make more sense?    

by jaydog on Apr 22, 2008 7:47 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Re: Kalib Starnes' Side of the Story
Wow. People are getting so upset about this. Who cares what this guy does with his life or what excuses he uses past the point that its an interesting story. People are acting like he personally offended them. This has nothing to do with your life directly.

I paid to watch that fight and I'm not upset. People should be thanking him. Thank you Kalib for giving us stuff to rant about and interesting news to write about.

by Yasnian on Apr 22, 2008 5:32 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Re: Kalib Starnes' Side of the Story
I had money on the fight. It does affect me personally.  I didn't bet more then I could aford to lose, but to bet on a guy and have him throw the fight breeds a little contempt.  Also, I think he threw the fight.  I don't have any proof, but if you look at the line for the fight it started at +400 for Starnes.  How does that even make sense when he is fighting a guy that was losing to Sell before KOing him and before that was layed up with a back injury?  The line was fishy and the performance played into the hands of the bookies.  That just makes me question if something was up.

by szucconi on Apr 22, 2008 5:45 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Re: Kalib Starnes' Side of the Story
He has personally offended me.  He put on a shitty fight, then acted like a martyr.  I find both of those acts to be offensive.

by Richard Wade on Apr 22, 2008 6:45 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Re: Kalib Starnes' Side of the Story
Blow me.  The son of a bitch threw a fight.  That's some unconscionable shit.  Fuck him and fuck you for thinking it's not a big deal.

by Richard Wade on Apr 22, 2008 8:11 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Re: Kalib Starnes' Side of the Story
If Kalib wasn't happy with medical benefits perhaps he should not have gotten into the ring in the first place.

Now he has no career, that sure won't help pay for those medical bills either.

Well played Kalib.

by DirtyML on Apr 23, 2008 2:45 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Re: Kalib Starnes' Side of the Story
hey guys - as a general note, feel free to attack one another, but only in the context of rhetorical battle. No ad hominem, please. The exchange of ideas needs to protected here no matter the intellectual proclivities and that means the only deterrent to posting should be a person's own social apprehension   - not the threat of personal attack.

Carry on, Marines.

by Luke Thomas on Apr 23, 2008 7:39 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

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