Starnes' Inaction

I enjoyed your article on Kalib Starnes (Pictures). I feel that if Kalib was so injured that he had no plausible way of winning the fight then he should have not answered the bell. He did himself and Nate Quarry a huge disservice by his foolish antics in the ring. I am one of the many who paid to see a fight. I too felt slighted by his actions. I would have much preferred to see an undercard bout than Kalib "running" for three rounds. No one is asking someone to get hurt or take a beating, all we want is effort.

In that aspect, Mr. Starnes failed miserably.
--John Santoro

Starnes wouldn't have won over too many fans by quitting early, but at least he would've been spared the venom directed at his passive performance. It was the lesser of two evils. I think fans would've ultimately appreciated being spared two rounds of the MMA equivalent of a test pattern.

We are no longer using the suffering of individuals as entertainment. Starnes owes us nothing. He fights for himself and whatever the reason--be it money, competition or fame--he has the right to quit whenever he chooses. But he didn't tap out or quit between rounds like Frank Shamrock (Pictures) did and there is good reason. Kalib Starnes (Pictures) is held to a double standard.

Starnes has been hurt before. He received a bruised rib during his time on "The Ultimate Fighter." Regardless of the actual severity of the injury, a fighter's health is between him and the ring doctor. No one else is qualified to make judgments. The fact remains, he chose to stop a fight because of his own personal health and the "fans" lashed out. What happened to being able to quit honorably? It's a sport, not a spectacle.

So, with a fractured foot, what is the best decision? There is no honorable tap because the "fans" will cry out. But we can't honestly expect another human being to put their health on the line for our amusement. For the big money that a high level boxer might make, the incentive might be there but for a hundred thousand (assuming lucrative sponsorships), would you step into the cage with Quarry? How about when your defense and offense is compromised? Starnes did what he had to do. He couldn't quit because no one would support him and he couldn't fight.
--Christopher Kiss

Starnes quit, all right, but didn't do the fans (or Quarry) any favors by not telling anyone about it. Fact is, several hundred thousand people saw his collapse on television, but only a fraction of them will ever learn about his foot or his rationale for backing away. I'll be very curious to see what kind of crowd reaction he gets the next time he appears.

Performances That Underwhelm (4/28)

I love MMA but have been watching it for only a little while. I started watching because of "The Ultimate Fighter" so I cannot comment on the fights on there, but are all of these really more embarrassing than Andre Arlovski and Fabricio Werdum (Pictures)?
--Michael McNally

Good God, yes.

Other Suggestions

How about Mike Bernardo (Pictures) vs. Nobuhiko Takada (Pictures)?
--Joshua Ryals

Remco Pardoel v Marco Ruas (Pictures)?
--Miguel Campo Brown

Nobuhiko Takada (Pictures) vs. Royce Gracie (Pictures). Watching Takada sit in Gracie's guard the entire time was excruciatingly painful. At least Kalib Starnes (Pictures) was moving around in his fight.
--Jay Arnold

And Finally, the Requisite Fedor Comments

You say that Antonio Nogueira is the top dog in the division. Meh, he does have the slightly better who's-who list of names in his win column, but that is a shaky argument at best, given the history in the ring between himself and Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures). But OK, I can see the logic.

Here is my question: who would the Russian have to beat next for you to change your tune? Will you change your tune? If the "you're only as good as your last fights" rule is what is driving your argument, a win over Tim Sylvia (Pictures) should catapult Fedor back up to the top of your list, correct? Heath Herring (Pictures) (Nog's second-to-last opponent) is not top 10 either. And before that he split a pair of decisions against Josh "Thunderlips" Barnett.

If Fedor fights a mid-grade heavyweight like Herring (whose threat levels I believe are comparable to those of a certain acromegaly-stricken K1 Grand Prix finalist) and then beats either Randy Couture (Pictures), Josh, or Big Tim, would you put him on top?
--Daniel Frew

If Emelianenko gets past Sylvia -- a fight he could very easily lose -- then I'll be delirious with reverence and happily regard him as the world's best heavyweight again.

Let's just hope he doesn't take another 30 months to fight another quality opponent. That's when I turn sullen.

Dept. of Corrections

Re: "Iron Ring: A Rusty Proposition" (4/21), several readers wrote in to explain that Dipset is not a person, as I had alluded to, but a group. My apologies to Freekey Zekey and his stable of professionals.

"The 10 Most Embarrassing MMA Performances" (4/28) referred to Cristian Quezada as Brazilian. I'm informed he's Chilean.

For comments, e-mail jrossen@sherdog.com