Kalib Starnes Talks About the Cut Incident

Kalib Starnes' fight with Alan Belcher was stopped by the doctor when the he examined Kalib and waved him off from continuing the fight due to a gash on the forehead.

Kalib was heard and caught on camera yelling at his corner as if to defend himself from being accused of stopping the fight himself.

Kalib Starnes dropped by Sherdog Forums to tell his side of things:

"I got hit with an elbow early in the first round. In the second round the ref stopped the action so the doctor could look at the cut. The doctor said "How is your vision?" I said "There's blood in my eye" Yves Lavigne said "If you say you can't see he'll stop the fight" I said "I can see, there's no problem, I want to fight" The doctor spread the cut open with his thumbs and said "I can see his skull, I'm stopping it" I said "I want to continue" and looked at my cornerman. My cornerman was staring at my cut and yelling "Why are you stopping the fight?", "What are you doing?". His comments were directed at the referee, but because he was staring at me, I was confused. That is why I became so angry, because I did not quit, and I thought that he was accusing me of quitting. We sorted things out afterwords. That's something that bothers me a lot after Ken Shamrock said that I was not injured on that show when I had a serious injury. I still take a lot of heat for that son-of-a-bitch's ignorant comments.

After the fight Yves Lavigne came up to me and said "I don't know why he stopped it, you did everything right, you told him you wanted to continue. The fight was close you were right there I would not have stopped it". "Stitch" and "House" the official UFC cutmen said the same thing. I haven't heard the color commentary yet but it seems to have confused some people. I'm extremely disappointed with what happened, I had a lot more fight in me, I have never been cut like that in a fight. That's what happened, if you want to corroborate the story just ask the referee. Congratulations Alan Belcher, I hope you'll give me a rematch."

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In a later post, Kalib explains his payday after the fight - Shocking stuff!

"It cost me about five times as much as I made just to train for that fight, I took a huge financial loss, I'm more upset about that than I am about losing actually. I left with $4,800 after taxes and deductions. Every time I fight I gamble with my health, reputation and financial well being and to have a cut just detroy all my hard work and personal sacrifice like that, I can't help but wonder if it's even worth it." - Post #152

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When asked about how many stiches?:

"Two layers about 15-20 in the meat, and 15-20 in the skin."

Kalib also went on to say that he will not be under medical suspension and that he has two fights left on his contract with the UFC. Hope to see Starnes back in action very soon.