Kalib Starnes made a statement of his horrible UFC 83 performance. He basically admitted to being afraid of being knocked out.
Here's his writeup:
I was never on any Montreal radio show. If anyone knows what radio show that I allegedly appeared on, or has any recording of it or any evidence of it whatsoever I would love to know about it. So far I've only heard rumors and allegations. I did not throw the fight, the fight was not a protest against the UFC.
I will say again what I've said before; I had the game plan of circling and moving to stay out of exchanges and to work off of my jab because he hits so hard, to avoid the clinch because he was very strong and I'd taken knees and elbows there in my previous fight, and to throw some kicks as the fight wore on.
I threw 35 punches in the first round and I would have thrown a lot more had I landed any of them, but I found him very difficult to hit and he was counter punching whenever I would step in, with one of those counter punches almost dropping me early. Most of my takedowns come out of the clinch and when I tried to switch it up and get position in the clinch to take him down I couldn't do it because he seemed much stronger than me.
In the second round it was more of the same except that he almost knocked me out again early which made me more hesitant to throw punches so I decided to throw some kicks and at about 2 minutes into round two I threw a low right roundhouse kick that hit his shin awkwardly and I broke my foot, which stopped me from throwing anymore kicks, other than a few tentative kicks with my left leg. **That is not an excuse for losing it is simply something that happened and for me to mention it I think is quite reasonable.
I found myself in a fight where I couldn't stand with the guy, he was awkward and he hit hard having almost knocked me out three times in the fight, I couldn't take him down and work my ground game (I got him down only once and just managed to land a few shots because he got up so fast), and so I felt like I could either keep moving or get knocked out. Then late in the third he started to mock me out of frustration, but really at that point, I was just a solidly beaten fighter who was trying not to get knocked out, and had fallen into a pattern that I couldn't get out of. It was the worst athletic performance of my life.
Afterword his cornerman was swearing at me and calling me names, I responded to him by calling him names and telling him that he should get in there and fight then, meaning fight in the UFC, not fight me. He apologized to me afterword I suppose realizing that he was out of line, and so did Nate and I know that they were both acting out of frustration and so I forgave them and apologized in return for losing my temper. I think it's rediculous that he be made into some kind of hero for mocking a guy that he just beat the crap out of, and I felt forced into retreating because he had such a good offense. I didn't choose to do it as some kind of protest. I did try to win that fight and I did show up to fight, I don't care what Dana White says, I just wasn't good enough on that day to do it. I have no excuses for losing the fight.
If you want a copy of my medical records the guys at Sherdog can contact me, or Primo at ATT and you'll be provided with that. I can't speak for anyone else, but I have never said that the UFC does not cover a fighters medical expenses, I'm dealing with their medical claims department right now regarding my broken foot and other injuries sustained at UFC 83, and up until this point they have honored their obligations.
I have as much right to discuss what fighters are paid as anyone else and I know a lot about the subject having fought for the organization in some capacity seven times. Believe me, you're paid if you win and tossed aside like garbage if you lose. Until these guys learn to market themselves the payouts are going to remain pathetic compared to boxing and the UFC's little traveling circus will roam from town to town with the billionaires raking in the cash while the fighters split up about five percent of the take between them.
What prompted me to discuss it were comments about it being wise to get knocked out as opposed to moving out of the way, apparently from brain injury advocates who've taken their own advice. I'm not retiring and I've already been offered more than I ever made at the UFC, which was $5,000 and $5000, plus $30000 fight of the night (which they gave me because I had no heart), plus an additional $25000 (because I don't belong in the UFC presumably). That's $65,000 you clever little monkeys, but remember that if I'd lost I would have walked away with a sweet $5000 and a kick in the ass, because they only pay the winners. The only problem with that is, somebody loses every time.
He doesn't care about running like a pussy but I'd rather get knocked out then run. It's like me saying I don't want to make tackles in rugby because I'll get a head injury or I won't body check a guy because I'll get hurt in hockey. He's a UFC fighter who didn't have a fighter's mentality.
If given the choice, I'd step in the ring to get knocked out in 5 seconds.
