UFC 83: “Serra vs. St. Pierre 2″ had it all: Record attendance, quickest sell-out, crazy fans and from what I can ever remember, the first ever 30-24 scorecard.
Of course, the dubious score was one of the three given in the unanimous decision for Nate Quarry over Kalib Starnes in a fight that has ignited a wave of criticism from fans and promoter (UFC President Dana White) alike.
There’s been a lot of back-and-forth about what happened — rather waht didn’t happen — inside the Octagon last Saturday night. Kalib recently released a statement in response to all of the negative press he has been receiving since his poor performance.
Here’s a snip:
“… I trained really hard for my fight. I know that there were many people, including myself, who were disappointed with my performance, and I would like to apologize to my coaches, trainers and the fans for what happened. It was by far the worst fight of my career, much to the credit of my opponent who proved to be a real monster in the ring…”
Kalib also commented on the backlash he received from fans:
“There is a winner and a loser in every fight. I tried to win but on that night I couldn’t do it and I lost. Instead of allowing me to lose with dignity I was booed and called names and ridiculed beyond anything which seems reasonable to me.”
He continues on in his statement about breaking his foot during the fight and simply being out classed by Nate Quarry, who subsequently stole all of the “Rocky” banter that Georges St. Pierre and Matt Serra were tossing back and forth by becoming the hero in his opponent’s backyard.
“If I can change, and you can change, everybody can change!.” Classic.
Anyway, to check out Starnes’ complete statement click here. This hopefully is the last we hear about this situation; however, something tells me we’re not that fortunate.
Sean McManus is the Director of Media Relations for MMACanada.net. For more information on the MMA scene up in Canada check out MMACanada.net.
50 Comments »
I was never a big Starnes fan, and if I remember right, he pulled the same excuse on the ultimate fighter. I think then it was his rib. So, all in all, his career can be summed up by saying he is hurt often, blames losses on being hurt, cries about health care, and calls fans “faggot.”
I have to give him credit. He did defeat “Dangerous” Danny Abbadi. Wait, no I don’t.
And sorry dude, you didn’t “try” to win.
The only way to lose with dignity is to fight with dignity.
I couldnt agree more. This kid always puts his foot in his mouth after a fight. He needs a publicist more than Tim Sylvia.
This guy is just a heartless bum…what a waste of talent!
Andy Wang has more heart than this dude.
RETIRE you bum
HES A P-U-S-S-Y
If Starnes had watched a replay of his “fight” then he would have found all of the ridiculing he received was WELL within reason.
“Instead of allowing me to lose with dignity I was booed and called names and ridiculed beyond anything which seems reasonable to me.”
Your dignity was done when Quarry did the running man, you flipped him off and he kneed you in the face. The last whiff of dignity was gone after Quarry got into the retard fight pose.
It will take three fights for this to go away. Elite XC may want you as a side show. Your name is bigger than 95% of fighters right now, not for the right reason of course.
First thing I do when I break a foot is run. And backpedal. And run some more! Least he could do is pick an excuse and stick with one. This guy is a clown.
Exactly. If he’d stood still, traded punches, and got knocked out, THEN he could say “I didn’t move around much or kick ‘cuz my foot was broken.” And we would accept that, and all would be well. But … you foot was broken, and that’s why you put your weight on it in a desperate attempt to flee your opponent? Please.
Kalib Starnes is pathetic. I would never call him a faggot, though. Plenty of faggots are brave as all hell and fight like demons, and it would be a disservice to associate them with Kalib the Koward.
i feel for starnes, don’t retire kalib you have the skills don’t give up on yourself
WAR STARNES!!
I agree (a little),He did man-up and say “I fucked up”. Don’t get me wrong, he is a pussy and he DOES NOT belong in this level, good luck Kalib, SEE YA!
are you nuts, this guy is a disgrace to all fighters with heart and drive, he should become a karate teacher - garbage man .the municipality of surrey is hiring
I thought it was absolutely hysterical when Quarry started running at him in a mocking fashion and Kalib just gave him the finger. I also liked it when Quarry put his left hand on his head and the right arm swinging through the left arm. That shit was awesome.
too much of that BC hydro for kalib
Kalib sucked, plain and simple he was definitly afraid of Quarry…you dont need or want fighters who just run away from their opponent the entire fight, that was the worst fight i have seen in years the UFC should kick his ass out, they want MMA fighters…not pussies.
Starnes is too smart a guy to believe his own bull. I’ve heard the guy speak very eloquently, he reads Chomsky for f**ks sake. Even Chomsky would have no other word to describe Kalib’s actions, during his fight, but cowardice.
There have been many one-sided fights in history where both fighters were given ovations by the crowd at the end, because both fighters gave it their all. When a professional MMA judge scores a fight that had no official point deductions 30-24, it should be pretty apparent that at least one fighter was not giving it their all.
This sport is about a lot of things. It’s about talent, its about heart, its about a passion for the one of the oldest forms of competition in history of humanity, but ultimately its about entertaining the fans. Fans know when you aren’t trying and fans that paid HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS to see you have a right to boo and jeer when it’s so abundantly clear that a fighter isn’t taking their passion as seriously as they do.
Kalib - admit it. You like the fight game, you just don’t like to fight. Paint your face, join the Tapout crew, and fade into obscurity. Your card as officially been pulled. Go with Christ, Bro.
The only thing that surprised me was that Kalib didn’t point down to his “broken” foot to show Quarry where he was hurt like he did in his TUF fight with Kendall Grove when he “cracked” a rib.
I’m willing to forgive this guy, but I’d rather not see him in the UFC again. He’s not a UFC-level fighter, as he proved on saturday.
If you stand and fight and subsequently lose, then you may keep your dignity, as there is no shame in losing a fight. When you do some slapstick routine that drags on for 15 minutes instead of a few seconds, then you deserve whatever scorn and mocking are heaped upon you.
Some comments on here really make us fans look like idiots.
It’s easy to call Kalib names. I’m not defending the guy. But he was outclassed, had 20,000+ fans booing him, had a broken foot and was being taunted by his opponent. I don’t agree with what he did but i understand.
All of you childish name callers need to grow up. You give us MMA bloggers a bad name.
I hope starns dies of natural causes in the next fifty years…
Thats little harsh..
I find it funny how he’s trying to get people to like him again. Like all these excuses will make us respect him. lol The last 10 seconds of the fight say it all.
Good Riddens to excuse full/soft spined fighters… 30-24 judge score says it all. It is not just the press. All the judges should have scored that way…
“It was by far the worst fight of my career”
That was an understatement, lets go on to say it was contender for top 5 individual worst performances in the UFC’s History… ever!
I think you’d have to dig deep in the archives to find worse.
Hmmm….This could be a great t-shirt contest. “Top 5 worst MMA fights ever. Mania, what do you think. There would need to be a link to all five fights for those of us who are a glutton for punishment.
Starnes-Quarry
Blanket O’Brien-Heath Herring
Sylvia-Arlovski III
Arlovski-Werdum
Too many to choose from for a fifth.
iunno…diego vs. koshcek was pretty bad..(the second one)..swick vs okami…and sylvia vs monson
I actually agree with his last statement. Being booed and ridiculed like that seems reasonable to me too.
I’m surprised that he doesn’t have a better excuse. This is weird, and truly he doesn’t belong in the UFC. It’s always great to make history. Not sure if I really want to make history that way though. It’ll surely go down as the worst fight of the decade.
Waste of sperm
There’s some funny-ass comments up in here!
Kalib. Tsk. Tsk.
That’s what you get for coming out to “bitter sweet sym-PHONY”!!
Kalib Starnes Anagram = BS Talks, I Ran(e)
At least this time people knew Nate was quoting a movie, I think his “anchor man” quote in the Pete sell fight wasnt recognized, by Joe rogan at least.
This guy doesn’t even deserve a comment
So you broke a bone in your foot…USE KNEE’s!!! If your ok to hop and run around the cage for 15 minutes then you can fight p***y…You should not have come out for another round if your foot was actually broken….Damn i dont even know what to say about this one. It was just too weird.
I agree it is a very strange situation and none of the excuses really explain his performance - there is something more to this story for sure.
he threw the fight for $$$$$$$$$$$$ plain and simple, i dont know why no one is breaching this subject, he should be investigated,
agreed… no excuses because him and his corner executed the game plan perfectly. i wonder how much he pocketed. did you hear how his corner was telling him “find his range”? hella phoney! they should have been riding him hard at the end of those sorry first 2 rounds. guarentee fixed.
Kalib, you are an entertainer. And when people PAY GOOD MONEY to be entertained and you completely fail them, they have every right to be pissed. And do not say you tried to win, every one who watched that fight knows thats not true.
kailb wud lose to my lil brother who is 17…regardless if my brother is a beast…but hes jus terrible.
Kalib Starnes has no fucking heart. In the pre-fight, he said he had faster hands than Nate. When he found out he wasn’t, he was probably saying to himself “Oh shit. Ah, fuck it”. And he doesn’t know the difference between hurting something and something being injured. He hurt his ribs, he hurt his foot, but they weren’t broken. He was just being a bitch.
It was obvious Kalib did not want to fight. I use to train with kalib 5 years ago. You people do not understand kalib. If Kalib is not completely happy with something he will not put his all into it. The Fact of the matter is that kalib can be a top 185 lb. fighter. Kalib has been in contract with the ufc for a period of time. In that time frame he has not made any money to support himself how about his daughter. The fact of the matter is if you aint a top fighter you get paid shit. This coupled with his injury via belcher i could see it not worth his effort to continuing fighting for the ufc. chris leben who lost to kalib in ufc71 got paid $25000 at ufc82 sounds like something wrong to me. Kalib beat him a long time ago. pay money get more cheap ass dana white
Kalib fails at everything, he fights like a cowardly bitch and then he blames his home country of taking away his dignity. LOL He deserves it for following lying CIA shill Noam Chomsky. Look at his reading list; all pigs that won’t point out the real issues; Noam Chomsky, Bertrand Russell,
Howard Zinn: A People’s History of the United States,
Thorstein Veblen. This how you know he’s a real pseudo intellect. Figures he thinks he’s so smart, most of their readers are easy dupes that just want to act smarmy and feel like they know more then the rest of us. Dignity Kalib? This is bad comedy, atleast we all know you are hate filled hompophobe, in addition to be politically retarded an pathetic fighter who ALWAYS has pussed out. Then you flip off Nate who gives a fantastic performance???? Ill never doubt Ken Shamrock again.
I hate Kalib “The Coward” Starnes too!
I agree with you all. My previous accomplishments should be completely forgotten. I’m “not a UFC level fighter”. My wins over Jason MacDonald and Chris Leben should be taken off my record. I am a “gutless coward”. What a horrible “piece of shit” I am! I am a “disgraceful fighter”. I “should never be allowed to fight again!” I should be “dragged through the streets and beaten to death” by an angry mob! I’m “The Worst Fighter Of All Time”, “The Laughingstock Of MMA”, “I hope there are agencies in Canada that take his child away from him”, “The Greatest Coward The World Has Ever Known”. I should be “kicked out of ATT”. I’ve never been hurt in a fight, in fact I “faked all of my doctors reports and xrays” just to get sympathy from the public. I am “a pussy”, “a loser”, “a liar”, I just “make up excuses all the time”, I’m just an “awful human being”. Can you even think of anyone or anything as awful and shitty as me? I’m “pathetic!” What “a joke!” What “a clown!” I’m “a bitch”. I “should be killed!” I make me “want to puke!”. I’m sorry if I forgot to quote you, but I’m sure that somebody will come along and continue the insult list for me. My favorite one so far is how my “kid should be beaten up at school”, she’s a kind beautiful little five year old little girl who I love more than anything. I can’t believe that I didn’t fight to the death to entertain you people! What was I thinking?
Kalib Starnes- The Running Man!!
He shoud try competing at middle/long distance runnig. Hey at least he won’t get hit!
He’s a PUSSY
nuff said
Er sorry for my great spelling there ha ha shouLd and runniNg
I agree with you all. My previous accomplishments should be completely forgotten. I’m “not a UFC level fighter”. My wins over Jason MacDonald and Chris Leben should be taken off my record. I am a “gutless coward”. What a horrible “piece of shit” I am! I am a “disgraceful fighter”. I “should never be allowed to fight again!” I should be dragged through the streets and beaten to death by an angry mob! I’m “The Worst Fighter Of All Time”, “The Laughingstock Of MMA”, “I hope there are agencies in Canada that take his child away from him”, “The Greatest Coward The World Has Ever Known”. I’ve never been hurt in a fight, in fact I “faked all of my doctors reports and xrays” just to get sympathy from the public. I am “a pussy”, “a loser”, “a liar”, I just “make up excuses all the time”, I’m just an “awful human being”. Can you even think of anyone or anything as awful and shitty as me? I’m “pathetic!” What “a joke!” What “a clown!” I’m “a bitch”. I “should be killed!” I make me “want to puke!”.
I don’t understand how Kalib could so easily handle fights with Leben and McDonald, yet not with Quarry. Although Quarry’s standup is the best of those, Kalib’s game is complete enough to have attempted to take the fight to the ground. Still, all of this backlash could have been avoided if the fight was not aired, and the McDonald vs. Doerksen fight was aired in its stead. It was very poor decision making to have this fight be televised in the first place. Especially with Kalib’s known history of stopping in the middle of a fight (a la vs. the 6′6″ Spider) because of an injury. Perhaps, if he would have stopped in the middle of this one, we would have gotten to see another fight rather than the full 15 minutes of this one.
Forget intelligent discussion, the biggest reason these commenters are pissed off is because they sat through three measly rounds (compare to fifteen rounds of a boring boxing match) and didn’t get a knock out or see enough blood. Forget about all the other problems in the world. Take away one American’s entertainment for fifteen minutes and he becomes totally irate!
Im a starnes and ive never heard of a starnes thats a pussy we have been fighters all through history from the indians wars though ww2. he’s got it in him, you-all keep it up and im sure he will prove it to you, starnes are slow to anger, but watch out when there there.