Kalib Starnes Comments On UFC Release
Recently-released former UFC middleweight Kalib Starnes has issued a statement regarding his UFC 83 performance, as well as his “requested” release from the organization:
“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.”
Despite a total unwillingness to engage against Nate Quarry, Starnes says he has incurred quite a few injuries from the 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.â€
Kalib also addressed Dana White’s negative comments, and had a few choice words of his own for the UFC President:
“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.
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.â€
While Starnes’ statement offers some answers concerning his shameful performance, I still can’t feel much sympathy for the guy. Sorry Kalib, but there are people out there who paid good money to see you fight that don’t even make $10,000 in a year, let alone in one evening. If you broke something during the bout and couldn’t continue then tap out or call it quits during the round break. But don’t run around for 15 minutes and waste our pay-per-view.
I agree i mean stanes messed up my ufc pick i had him koed in the 2nd round lol. but with a broken foot how was he such and excellent runner??? lol. at any rate dana whites job is to defend and promote the ufc he does his fighting there starnes i am not a fighter and look at me sitting here typing away on this keyboard. doesnt change the fact that you failed your job not us not dana so let keep the attention where its needs to be on your performance. winners take credit for their mistakes not push it too someone else. but good luck in whatever you go to i am sure there are not too many organizations knocking but good luck and god bless.
I agree 100 percent with everything Eric said about this jerk.Listen dude stop making excuses you did not break one single bone cause if you did it would have been so painful that you would not had been able to hide it let alone walk on it.SO STOP IT! I know better than that. Face it Kalib you sold yourself short.I was wondering when did this so called black eye happen? From what I saw you were running around so much Quarry couldn’t land a decent shot.and your jaw is bruised from what were you beating on your self in the locker room after the fight?LOL!FACE IT YOU JERKED YOURSELF AND EVERYONE ELSE THAT BELEIVED IN YOU. My bad now that i’m thinking about it you probably did break your foot bobbing and weaving around the ring like you did it’s possible that it happened.LOL!Your a funny guy.
Kalib preformed horribly. Bottom line that’s all there is to it. Many fighters have had long boring fights (Tim Sylvia) but Starnes is completely unimpressive. If his foot was broken he did a good job standing on it and I do not understand why he would not take the fight to the ground. Broken foot…..can’t walk…hurts a lot…..hmm….I’ll take it to the ground. His words now seem more of a cover up/twist for his tourettes like outrage at the end of the match. Dana White does not owe Starnes any words other than F OFF! Starnes is in no place to throw words of ANY phrase/type Dana White’s direction. Starnes was given the opportunity countless fighters are dying for and acted like a weak, unmotivated little bitch since the beginning of the TUF show.
Boo friggin’ hoo, Kalib. Enjoy your pity party, you’re the only one in attendance. And I know you’re a young guy but you’ve had a couple of days to attempt to think - get some perspective. Dana surely has the balls to call you but he values his time more than that. You put on a shameful performance & he’s going to get his assistant to get an intern to send you your final dismissal papers. And cutting on him for not being a figher? I mean seriously, do you think the president of McDonald’s is a slouch for not working kitchen shifts beside his employees putting patties & cheese on buns? Dana is the PRESIDENT OF THE UFC. You fight, he pays you. He could be a 400 pound slob & he is within is rights to pass judgement on you as an employee. Last I checked Zuffa & UFC were privately held companies. If he thinks you suck, he fires you - end of story. I wouldn’t fight you. But I sure would send you packing your bags after wasting everyone’s time. PS - Get someone to help you with PR…I could write you a press release that doesn’t make you look like such a douche.
Broken bones, sprains, etc. You picked this career not us!!! You knew what you were getting into!
hes been a whiner about injuries since we first met him on TUF when he quit in the semis against kendall it doesnt surprise me that hes sayin it was an injury when the only thing botherin him during that fight was he was scared of quarry quarry looked scary one of my friends compared him to the punisher and if u kno comics u dont f*** with the punisher
It just doesn’t make sense. He broke his foot, and decided the best course of action was to run around the ring for 15 minutes?
“…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.”
>>Is this guy for real? Isn’t that EXACTLY what they’re paying him $10,000 for? The chance to fight. The chance to punch the other guy or get punched yourself? This is the most ridiculous response.
He asked to get released? Gimme a break. That’s like stealing over $10,000 from the company bank account, then when the boss finds out, telling him you quit moments before you’re fired. Kalib Starnes is truly a Canadian embarrassment. I hope he never fights again. What a joke.
and i totally agree ‘huertarogerhuerta’. Quarry does look like the punisher. I would not f*** with the punisher.
Kalib had us all fooled into thinking he was a fighter. Now, in his own words, he’s telling us that he’s not willing to take the risks associated with his chosen profession. I just don’t get it…
There are many other jobs out there in the wide world for people who are not interested in getting punched in the face. In fact, I’d bet that MOST employers would frown on such behavior. If avoidance of personal injury is truly a large priority for Kalib, why would he choose the pain business to begin with?
This guy demonstrates serious logic flaws.
If the pain and injury was so bad that a victory was unattainable, then why not just quit on the stool? UFC fans would have been much more forgiving of a stoppage due to injury than to the wasted 25 minutes of our time. Or, he could have gone down and stayed down from the punch that gave him the black eye. I mean, had he quit, there would have been extra time to show some of the highly entertaining Prelim fights.
Sure, these aren’t ideal solutions, but given the choice between the enormous humiliation of running away from Nate’s hilariously executed “One-Eyed Cyborg” attack, or going down early to injury, I’d have to go with the injury.
Then again, I guess that Kalib has already used that excuse…
I know guys who would fight in the ufc with 2 broken legs. kalib has no heart
Well Rich Franklin knocked th Punisher the f*** out. It was the best knockout in UFC history.
Starnes performance was shitty and he has no excuses. The one complaint I have about Quarry’s performance is that he reaaly didn’t know how to close off the Octagon and force Starnes to engage him. Top level fighters are able to do that in their sleep.
Kalib brought all this on himself…what did he think would happen if he ran like a bitch all day long….broken foot or not..
Frank Shamrock fought 3 rounds against Cung with a broken forearm until it was completely seprated.
Others fighters do it and its not the fans business how much he makes , thats no excuse. His job is to be a fighter.
WM, why should Quarry have chased him down? Hell, he came in to fight, and had to run after his opponent? This isn’t deer hunting. If Starnes doesn’t want to engage (he didn’t), and Quarry had it won already (he did), why should he do more?
AND, I think Quarry humiliating Starnes in the ring would do much more to motivate a *real* fighter to engage. Too bad Starnes wasn’t one.
true fixxer franklin did lay him out impressivly but that was before this punisher look mayb i just neva noticed it untill last sat but he wasnt punishered out against franklin and besides afta the punisher gets beat down thats when he gets the craziest and thats when he becomes a one man wrecking crew and best ko? come on now ive seen a million like that but neva one where the event went off air and the guy was still unconsious ala rashad vs salamon
SpiderBestEver - if Quarry had better ring skills instead of simply great stand up skills and a great heart he wouldn’t have had to chase Starnes. He would have been able to neutralize Starnes’ movement and pound him out whether Starnes liked it or not.
Yes clowns. It was Quarry who couldnt close the deal. Starnes gave Quarry 15 minutes to do the job…..and he still DID NOT FINISH. Period.
broken foot fuck off i did’nt here it mentioned between rounds and as for the black eye i did’nt know that quarry was strech armstrong.same on the ultimate fighter show i broke my rib my rib fucking bitch
kalib is a big pussy
This is why whitey can’t fight!
“little rapper”, what are saying? that since upwards of 90% of the fighters are “whitey” they cant fight? it appears that there is another demographic that chooses not to participate.
Kaleb made alot of excuses for himself. He said something about it was to bad if the fans wanted to see him get traumatic brain injury or something like that. Well if he is so concerned with being seriously injured, why did he choose this profession? If you’re going to be a professional fighter, there is a really good chance that you could be seriously injured every time you step in the ring. Maybe he should go be a professional trainer or something. I’m surprised that the UFC didn’t hold his purse up for fighting like that or should I say running like that!
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that none of you - who are so quick to sling mud from your computers - have ever fought, in a dojo, a gym, or on the street. The first thing any MMA trainee or fighter learns, is respect. Let me say that first, because it’s something that’s been beat into me - respect.
Secondly, this was a gamble of a match-up that could have gone either way. Quarry, at his age, and with his recent fighting history, considered this a make-or-break fight. Starnes, who took a heavy beating in his last fight against Alan Belcher (which I personally think was a bad fight on Kalib’s part), probably thought the same. Kalib has a stronger ground game than Nate (and knows it), which meant that Nate did not want to engage up close. However, as a striker, dealing with a limping opponent, Nate should have finished this. But, he didn’t want to move in. Starnes, on the other hand, was clearly waiting to try and gas him (which didn’t happen). This is a Joe Silva issue, and even he can’t predict how a fight’s going to be.
As a final statement, I must say that I’m so sick of people who expect every UFC fight to be a Griffin VS. Bonnar war-for-a-contract. These men train to be tactical and they create gameplans in order to follow them. This fight didn’t work out. Starnes is in a bed that he’s made, and no amount of bitching is going to make him feel worse, just like it’s not going to make any of you feel any better about yourselves. Come on now…things are what they are. Now, go join a gym/dojo if you want to see what your body can take when it’s not behind a keyboard and computer.
Look, I’m not going to come on here and make excuses for the guy, he had a contract that he agreed to, therin lyes the problem, why did Kalib and why are so many other fighters agreeing to these peanut contracts?
The UFC is making money hand over fist and paying ****, it’s pretty bad when fighters are making more in other organizations and Dana says the UFC is leading the way? It’s time either Dana pulls his head out of his *** or the Fertitta brothers send him packing!
Cazador - I spent eight years training in a dojo and your comments have reminded me of the people I trained with and competed against and how dumb the conversation in a gym or dojo can truly be. People paid money to watch Starnes fight and he agreed to do so but then didn’t; the people have earned the right to vent even if it doesn’t make things better. How much respect do you think Starnes was operating with last Saturday night? I’ll bet it was less than those four ounce mitts on the end of his hands. Enjoy your training grasshopper - KIAAAA!
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that none of you - who are so quick to sling mud from your computers - have ever fought, in a dojo, a gym, or on the street.
This statement officially disqualifies anything you say after it, since, in the same sense: if you haven’t made a movie, you can’t talk about movies, if you haven’t fought in a war, you can’t talk about the war in Iraq, if you don’t have cancer, you can’t talk about cancer, etc.
Starnes chose to not fight. Period.
Yuushi-If you haven’t fought in a war, you can’t talk about war. Seriously keep that s*** to yourself.