After three days of criticism and rumors abroad regarding Kalib Starnes motivation for his lackluster performance at UFC 83, the Canadian mixed martial artist attempts to set the record straight.

UFC 83 was an event to remember for many reasons. It was the UFC’s first ever show in Canadian territory. The event also set a new attendance record packing the Bell Centre with 21,380 fans.

Last but not least, hometown hero and pound for pound one of the top 3 mixed martial artist in the world, George St. Pierre took home the welterweight championship belt redeeming himself with a victory over Matt "The Terror" Serra.

With a slew of Canadian fighters on the card, Canadian fans were in for a treat with the arrival of the UFC in Montreal. All of their fellow Canadian fighters delivered during the show save one. Kalib Starnes gave new meaning to the phrase "stick and move". In the case of Starnes vs Quarry it should have been called "stick and run" because that is precisely what the "Ultimate Fighter 3" alumni did for the entire three round fight.

By the end of the third, after punishing Kalib with an array of vicious leg kicks, Quarry was tired of playing cat and mouse. He mocked Starnes by running in place and then proceeded to hold one hand over his face while punching like a mentally challenged person. Needless to say Starnes was not happy with Nate’s antics and let him know with his middle finger. After the fight Quarry’s corner man had some words for Kalib who returned the favor with an explicit ranting of his own.

Following the fight and over the next few days, rumors flew as to why Kalib spent the whole bout in retreat mode. The biggest rumor going around was that Starnes performed the way that he did to protest the UFC and his pay rate and also to insure that he would not have to finish out his contract with the organization. Starnes denied this rumor in a recent article with Mike Russell of theFightNetwork.com and cited injuries as the cause for his constant back peddling during the fight.

“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.”

Now to me it looked like he was pretty much back peddling from the start. I just watched the fight a second time and it looked like the first kick he threw that even connected enough to brake his foot happened about half way through the second round. Which means his excuse is pretty much null for the first half of the fight.

Whatever the case, Starnes is now a free agent and will most likely have trouble signing with any respectable organization after his embarrassing performance saturday night. While Starnes stated that he requested an end to his contract with the UFC, Dana White said the opposite in a recent article from Yahoo! Sports and also had this to say about his former employee.

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

To hear the complete side of Starnes’s story regarding him leaving the UFC, check out the full article at theFightNetwork.com.

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