It has been a nightmare six months for Kalib Starnes.
In October, the Surrey, B.C. mixed martial artist lost to Alan Belcher at UFC 77 when a cut was opened on his forehead and the doctor stopped the bout.
At the time, he didn’t realize how bad the cut was and didn’t feel the fight should be stopped. His cornerman, looking at Starnes’ cut, yelled at the doctor questioning why he stopped it. Starnes, who was seen on the pay-per-view yelling back at his cornerman, did so because he thought he was yelling at him.
Starnes said he regrets what he did and should have given his cornerman an opportunity to explain why he was yelling, but instead became angry right away. Unfortunately, the misunderstanding resulted in a split with his cornerman.
And that wasn’t the extent of the after-effects from the bout. The cut on his forehead became infected and he needed more than two months to recover.
A few months later, things looked like they may be improving for Starnes. He was selected as one of three Canadians on the main card of the UFC 83 in Montreal, the first event to be held in Canada. Win or lose, this figured to be a wonderful opportunity.
Never could he have imagined being booed out of the arena by his own countrymen and criticized mercilessly by the media. And this after breaking his foot in the first round, something he wasn’t given a chance to explain before a public attack on his character hit full steam.
To those fans and media I say, shame on you.
Since Saturday night’s admittedly awful performance, he has been unfairly accused of everything short of collaborating with terrorists.
First it was suggested that he should never fight in the UFC again. (So you can’t have an off-night!?)
Then it was rumoured that he intentionally threw the fight as a protest against the UFC for his lack of compensation for his medical expenses or some other complaint of his contract. (You think he would really do this in front of his home fans!?)
But throughout it all, his heart — and his reasons for the poor performance — was questioned, and it isn’t the first time.
Let’s look at the critics:
They said, "Why didn’t he throw more punches?"
But Starnes said before the fight one thing you don’t want to do against Quarry, a guy who hits hard and has a lot of knockouts, is stand right in front of him and exchange punches. For better or for worse, that seems like a reasonable strategic decision.
They said, "If he really was injured, why didn’t he just retire from the fight?"
Yeah, he did that once before, during The Ultimate Fighter, and he was criticized then.
They said, "If his foot was broken, why couldn’t he still punch?"
You try throwing effective punches without being able to put weight on your foot.
They said, "Why couldn’t he take the fight to the ground?"
He tried that, too.
Remember Chuck Liddell vs. Keith Jardine? Jardine kept kicking Liddell and Chuck didn’t do much in the fight. He lost by decision. But I don’t remember anyone saying Chuck Liddell should never fight in the UFC again.
There’s no doubt Starnes did not fight a great fight. But to come out with harsh snap judgments is simply not fair.
It was also reported he lashed out at fans and Quarry’s cornermen afterward. If that is the case, shame on you Kalib. You should have learned your lesson after UFC 77.
But when you’ve got a broken foot, broken spirit and all that adrenaline pulsing, sometimes people do things they shouldn’t. After all, we’re all human.
are you serious? the guy backs up for 3 rounds & you think thats an off night. Any citizen could have ran away for 3 rounds. The guy is a bum.
Warhawk |
10:37 AM, Thursday April 24, 2008
Your blog is alway a little weak, but this post is ridiculous.
First off, comparing him to Chuck Liddell? Seriously? Starnes hasn’t done anything near what Chuck has in the sport, plus Chuck has 10X more heart. Not to mention he’s never run away from an opponent.
Secondly, it wasn’t an “off night”. If we have to pay 50$ to watch you perform, you better perform. If you’re too scared of your opponent, fight on cable TV with other fighters of your caliber.
Lastly, Starnes has mouthed of or quit or ran away from opponents at least once per fight, including when on TUF. Why he was on the main card rather than MacDonald/Doerksen, that is a real mystery.
Its good for Starnes, the UFC, Canadians, and fans that he won’t ever be in the big leagues again. Not to say that he couldn’t be strong in smaller organizations, but he’s not cut out for the majors.
captobvious |
12:28 PM, Thursday April 24, 2008
Good point. Of course I can’t blame the fans for booing, it was by far the worst fight on an otherwise very entertaining night, but can’t we just leave it at that? Starnes has been in exciting fights before and will probably be in them again. At least it was only for three rounds unlike that horrible five round Arlovski/Sylvia heavyweight championship a while back (I remember thinking Arlovski should never fight in the UFC again, but he’s back). If you are going to blame anyone blame the UFC for scheduling this fight. It was pretty obvious Starnes could not handle someone with the boxing ability and heavy hands that Quarry possesed. Someone at the UFC should have realized their fighting styles were incompatable and given them other opponents. Were they just trying to give Quarry a warm up fight to help propel him into the middleweight contenders?
BigWilliam |
12:54 PM, Thursday April 24, 2008
You have got to be kidding me..
During the Franklin-Louiseau fight at UFC 58, Frankin broke his lead hand and also fractured one of his feet in the same fight, and still fought impressively to a decision. That was also a 5 round fight, and much more of an “off night” than Starnes had. Kalib Starnes broke his foot in the first round. If he couldn’t kick, punch, or take the fight to the ground, then the simple solution is to have your corner throw in the towel.
Sure, he still would have been booed for giving up, but atleast he wouldn’t have run the risk of damaging his foot even further over the last two rounds and would have spared the fans a terrible performance. It would have been far less severe than the reaction he’s been receiving.
Shame on us, the fans and media? Shame on Kalib Starnes. It’s bad enough when people don’t do the job they’re hired to do, but when you put on Saturday’s “performance” and run your mouth the lash out at the crowd like he did?
Good riddance.
mleblanc |
2:39 PM, Thursday April 24, 2008
I agree with captobvious…we pay $$$ you f**** play hard or go home…getting knocked our for trying is better than backpeddling a whole 3 rounds!…canadian or not when you fight in the UFC you bring it all…heartless starnes good riddance!
Jeronimo |
4:29 PM, Thursday April 24, 2008
“Blame the UFC scheduling.”,”their fighting styles incompatable.” I’ve watched EVERY UFC fight and that’s what it’s all about! If you want to watch compatable fighters watch boxing.
Not only did Starnes embarass himself but for a split second he let his country down…until we realized that he’s a bum and went for the better fighter!
Brydon…you can blame his poor excuse for a “fight” on whatever you want because it will forever be know as the worst fight in UFC history!! I work hard for my paycheck and the only thing I expect back is someone working hard for their paycheck!
Starnes if you want to gain some dignity back, donate your paycheck to a charity!! Everyone knows you don’t deserve it.
V@nM@n |
5:22 PM, Thursday April 24, 2008
The Starnes fight was the worst thing ive seen since UFC 73 “Roid Rage”. Where to chemically enhanced fighters Sean Sherk and Hermes Franka went at eachother for 25 minutes.
CanadianEH |
7:28 PM, Thursday April 24, 2008
Yeah, nice try but I don’t think so. There have been much more serious injuries and fighters have found a way to push through the pain. That guy quit plain and simple. He shouldn’t get paid for what he did. Most people (save government jobs) could not screw up like that and still get paid for it.
The intensity of the outrage might be a little much, but this blog was a little too quick in trying to defend him. I would suggest a year or two. Then there will be a new villain to hate.
MoreCowbell |
3:13 AM, Friday April 25, 2008
I appreciate everyone’s comments, and some of them are very good ones. I fear though that some may have slightly missed my point. I wasn’t trying to say he didn’t deserve to get booed or criticized. Certainly fans and media have the right – in fact the pleasure – of doing so. It’s part of following the sport. It was just the extreme to which it went. Not giving him an opportunity to address why he put on one of the worst fight’s seen in a long time before saying he shouldn’t ever fight in the UFC again or suggesting he threw the fight on purpose. I waited until after he released his statement, so I don’t see how I was too quick to “defend” him.
Finally, I wasn’t comparing “him” to Chuck Liddell, just using that fight as an example of how when your leg gets hurt by your opponent it limits your ability to throw effective strikes and that combined with a weak gameplan can lead to an “off-night.” Maybe not the best example, because Liddell did in fact muster some offence in that one. For another perspective, see Joe Doerksen’s comments on Kalib Starnes at the bottom of the news story.
James Brydon |
12:01 PM, Friday April 25, 2008
In the Liddell/Jardine fight you could easily tell that Chuck was trying to win the fight, Starnes was fighting not to lose for all 15 minutes. He HAD to know by the last round that he was easily behind on the scorecards, but in no way changed up his game to compensate and his attempts to take the fight to the ground were pathetic, not to mention few and far between.
I think this is also a matter of the UFC’s production. Dream, formerly Pride, has next to no mid-bout analysis and advertising, keeping your attention for the whole card. Dream also airs all but a couple of the card’s fights, so 1 bad fight out of 7 or 8 isn’t as big a deal.
Anonymous |
1:21 PM, Friday April 25, 2008
despite his mixed success in the UFC, he is a great fighter when he’s on his game.
maybe like GSP he should get a sports therapist?
zenthegreat |
4:40 AM, Sunday April 27, 2008
If his foot was broken, how was he able to back peddle and continue to run fom Quarry ? He had his track shoes on from the opening bell and this didn’t stop when he fractured his foot. You can’t put any weight on a broken foot. Running away won’t get you anywhere in mma.
MOOCH |
10:10 AM, Sunday April 27, 2008