James Thompson Speaks Out On Kimbo Slice Stoppage

by Michael Rome on Jun 5, 2008 12:13 AM EDT in News Comment 8 comments

Thompson is not happy with the comments of Nick Lembo:

Sam Caplan: After Dan Miragliotta had stopped the fight and rendered his decision, you put your hand on him. According to Nick Lembo in an interview I conducted with him on Monday, he said he spoke with Miragliotta and that he had said he felt you weren’t even sure who he was and that you didn’t know the fight had been stopped. Did you know what was going on and did you intentionally put your hands on Dan Miragliotta?

James Thompson: You see, this is what almost is the most annoying to me, is the fact that I was just so disgusted and that I was so in shock by it. In disgust, I kind of shoved him. I went to shove him away and I caught his face. Now, I did that completely knowingly and completely purposely. It’s kind of like they take pity on me. Someone said “Oh, I think he thought I was Kimbo.” It’s even more insulting. Don’t get me wrong, I was rocked. But I was completely coherent. I saw him stop it; I followed his hands; I looked right back (and) I said to him, “What are you doing?” For him to say that he thought I thought he was Kimbo is absolutely ridiculous. I’d rather just get fined if that’s the case. For him to say I thought he was a black man with a beard… it’s insulting, basically.

Read the whole thing, it's all very interesting and James Thompson is actually a pretty funny dude.

Sam Caplan has done a wonderful job this week in covering the fallout of the Elite XC event. He's really done a good job presenting all sides, and by this point the credibility of the NJACB is falling so fast that they may soon be calling Baghdad Bob for PR help.

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Comments

voice of thompson

for fool effect, you have to read it with his English accent … and then picture him doing the gong and dash after every period.

by thetakeover on Jun 5, 2008 2:54 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

oops ... "full"

by thetakeover on Jun 5, 2008 2:55 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

great interview by caplan

really interested to see what if anything comes from the appeal

no kick no life

by JohnBuchan on Jun 5, 2008 9:38 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

They must give Thompson a re-match immediately. That’s the only way for Kimbo to get some credibility back(if he wins by KO in the 1st) and to gain some credibility for the promotion.

by Tha Realness on Jun 5, 2008 9:43 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

...

Kudos to james thompson for giving an honest interview without actually undeservedely bashing anyone (except the ref).

The main thing that I think needs to be looked at in the midst of all of this is the safety of the fighters. It’s very obvious that the fight should have been stopped at the end of the second round. Kimbo was completely wasted, and getting undefended bombs dropped on him for a long time, and I hate to say it because it sounds like I’m just piling on, but in UFC, the fight would have been called. The whole ear debacle wouldn’t have happened, and we’d be talking about a completely different topic right now. The ratings would have been the same, but you’d be hearing more people say that kimbo needs to train more, which is no different than the current sentiment.

As a matter of fact, earlier in the day i was watching an old fight between Evan Tanner and David Terrell where the same situation happened, tanner had him pinned against the cage and was just beating the crap out of terrell for a good 30 to 45 seconds, and the ref jumped in and called the fight.

Above all else, you HAVE to respect the safety of these fighters, no matter how badly you want a certain fighter to win.

by PatrickGray on Jun 5, 2008 11:01 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs