Kalib Starnes was in full spin mode in an interview with The Fight Network. Here’s the skinny–he claims that he asked for his release from the UFC last week and that Dana White’s announcement that he’d been dropped due to his pitiful performance against Nate Quarry isn’t true. He also claimed that his refusal to engage was due to an injury to his thigh caused by a Quarry kick early in the fight. While not being specific as to the exact nature of the injury he said his thigh was “destroyed”. He also mentions a broken foot from a kick he threw. He goes on to bash Dana for questioning his heart, and suggests he’s happy to be out of “the most oppressive contract I’ve ever been under in my life”:

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.

Kalib Starnes displays Joe Louis-like class and dignity

“[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.�

He goes on to play the “Dana White wouldn’t stand and trade with Nate Quarry” card:

“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.�

He also disputed a rumor that’s been making the rounds that his “running man” fight strategy was a protest against his salary:

Rumors also surfaced Monday that Starnes had dropped a bombshell – that his performance was a direct protest to his pay rate and insurance that he would be let go from the remainder of his contract – on a Montreal radio show following his match with Quarry. Starnes called the rumors ludicrous.

Let’s take the last point first–while I think fighter pay in the UFC could potentially be one of the big stories of the next few years, I’m not buying that Starnes’ performance was a “protest” similar to Derek Bell’s infamous “Operation Shutdown” when the Pittsburgh Pirates wouldn’t offer him a new deal.

That notwithstanding, I’m not buying Starnes’ injury story either. Had he *really* suffered a broken foot in the first round the prudent course of action would have been to alert the ref of the injury and take the TKO loss. There’s not a fan or promoter in the world that expects a fighter to continue with a legitimate injury and were Starnes’ injury legit he would have saved face with the fans and possibly saved his job (we’ll get to that in a moment). If he had retired between rounds he might have even been hailed as something of a badass for trying to fight with such a significant injury.

Now playing Devil’s advocate and assuming for a moment that Starnes’ injury claims are legit, what would he have thought the benefit to running away from Quarry for three rounds? Even if he *was* done with the UFC heading into the fight (as he suggests) this doesn’t exactly do wonders for his future marketability as a fighter in other promotions. No one with any sense would have put their career and reputation at risk just to “stick it to the man”–to evoke an old cliche that’s “cutting off your nose to spite your face”.

Besides, Starnes was moving around the ring pretty well and at a decent rate of speed for someone with a broken foot and “destroyed” thigh.

His story just doesn’t add up. His ring movement appeared to be the only thing he had going for him. If he was legitimately injured I can understand not wanting to risk permanent damage, particularly if his UFC gig was up–but were that his goal just alerting the ref that his foot was broken would have brought a more dignified end to the proceedings. What he’s saying, in essence, is “my foot and leg were mangled, so I ran around in circles for 15 minutes”.

As far as who pulled the trigger on the termination of Starnes’ contract it’s ultimately irrelevant. Its been widely reported that the UFC is planning to make some roster cutbacks simply because they have too many fighters under contract. Starnes may have figured that he’d get while the gettin’ was good rather than wait until he got the boot. Still, that scenario doesn’t make any sense either–were this the case he would have entered the fight against Quarry knowing that he’d be a free agent in a few days. Injury or no injury, only a moron would do everything possible to diminish his marketability knowing that he’d have to be looking for a new job after this fight.

Regardless of what Starnes may think, Dana has every right to his opinion and particularly more so since he runs the company that (until yesterday) he works for. The “Dana isn’t a fighter” take is pretty weak–its an argumentative “last straw” most recently seen with pro-war types suggesting that politicians, pundits, citizens, etc. don’t have a right to criticize the war if they never served in combat. Dana has been around fighters all of his life and his “f-bomb” tirades notwithstanding I haven’t seen anything to suggest that he doesn’t respect professional prizefighters. He may have personal issues with some guys, but that doesn’t have anything to do with fighting. Regardless of who said what or who did what when, Dana didn’t have anything to do with Starnes’ disgraceful performance in the cage on Saturday night.

My personal opinion? Based strictly on what I saw during the matchup and not the recriminations since Starnes looked as if he decided at some point he didn’t want to fight. Maybe this was because of an injury, maybe it was because of his unhappiness with his UFC deal but that’s really beside the point. The last thing anyone wants to see in any combat sport is a fighter who’s heart isn’t in it–that’s when people get hurt. Were it a case that Starnes just didn’t want to fight any more that’s his business. Ultimately, however, even if his efforts not to engage with Quarry were borne out of a lack of focus or deciding “he didn’t want to fight” or due to injury that doesn’t excuse him from his disgraceful performance. Out of respect to fighters everywhere he had the responsibility to not turn the event into a mockery–and that’s exactly what he did.

In conclusion, even if Starnes’ version of events is the absolute gospel he still deserves all of the derision that’s come his way from the UFC, the media and fans. If he wanted to “walk away” for whatever reason there was ample opportunity to do so without turning his fight against Quarry into a freak show. He chose the low road, demonstrating a lack of respect for his opponent, the fans and the countless fighters past and present who work their ass off and never get similar opportunities. Starnes can spin all he wants, but I’m of the opinion that Dana White’s comments are pretty much on the mark:

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

I’d go further and suggest that he doesn’t belong in any ring or cage due to his lack of respect for the sport alone.

We originally talked about Starnes v. Quarry here

Starnes requested release @ The Fight Network