(Photo:UFC.com)

Kalib Starnes has come forward with his explanation of the events at UFC 83 and an ineffective performance that riled fans and frustrated his opponent Nate Quarry. Starnes updated his website to explain the performance, stating that he did not in any way throw the fight and that he felt forced to state his case given the negative and fictitious press that he has been receiving since the bout.
As usual the truth is never as interesting as speculation, and that holds true in this case. Details from Starnes’ statements are included below;

“…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, I think that they should keep him in a cave somewhere and feed him raw meat!”

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 (Photo:UFC.com)

The MMASPLATTER team was at UFC 83 this past weekend in Montreal, Quebec and well we had the pleasure of taking in first hand, one of the best UFC cards in a long while.  That said, we also had the displeasure of sitting through a painful bout between Canadian fighter Kalib Starnes and Nate Quarry that was part of the under-card lineup.  Starnes, who is a reasonably talented MMA fighter inexplicably backed away from Quarry for the duration of their 15 minute fight.  It got so bad that Quarry, frustrated with the behaviour and the associated jeering from the 20,000 paying fans in attendance  mocked Starnes’ behaviour in an effort to make it clear he was not the source of the problem.  The result was laughter from the crown who was at that time, hungry for any entertainment value in the bout.

The result at the end of the match was as expected, with a lopsided unanimous decision victory going to Nate Quarry who apologized to Starnes for the mockery, but was obviously frustrated with the situation.   One judge actually gave a 30-24 decision in favour of Quarry, which may be the only time that has happened in the history of the UFC.  The fight which was reportedly the last on Starnes’ contract with the UFC was clearly going to be his last either way.   A Yahoo! Sports article on the topic, included the comment from Dana White who said,

“He just doesn’t belong in the UFC and after his performance the other night, he should consider a new line of work.”

That is a pretty clear statement from the UFC and as a result, I wouldn’t expect to see Starnes back in the organization at any time in the future.  It is interesting that Kalib has been in back to back controversies at UFC matches.  At his last outing against Alan Belcher at UFC 77 in Cincinnati, Starnes was badly cut and the fight was stopped.  He basically lost his mind, screaming at his corner and gesturing towards officials.  In this incident the Yahoo! article also mentioned that after the Quarry fight,

“…members of Quarry’s corner were complaining to Starnes about his lack of activity. Starnes shouted an expletive at one member of Quarry’s team, called him a derogatory term for homosexuals and challenged him to a fight…”

It certainly seems like extreme behaviour that doesn’t match the mindset you expect to see from a fighter getting an opportunity to compete in the biggest MMA stage in the world.  Whatever the issue, hopefully Starnes can refocus and get back to winning, or at least fighting.  He is a talented fighter and obviously doesn’t train to put on a show like that.  Maybe the full story will come out from Starnes at a later date, until then speculation is all that’s left.