James Thompson: Man, Myth, Legend?

Yes that’s right- an entire article devoted to one of my favorite fighters of all time—James “The Colossus” Thompson. Thompson is a mixed martial artist. Thirty years old now, he stands six foot five inches tall and weighs around 275lbs. He comes from a very poverty ridden background in which he earned a living as a “debt collector.” Actually his past resembles Rocky Balboa in both circumstances and occupation.

I believe there is a lot more to this fighter than his record shows, and I believe he has also been a participant in a couple of fixed fights to his detriment. Now I can’t prove anything of course, but I think it’s pretty apparent he threw his last couple of fights with EliteXC. He got involved in a corrupt shady organization and the result is that we might never get to see him really shine—if at all anymore.

James won his first five fights suffering his first defeat at “UC 10 Ultimate Combat X” to a man I never heard of named Tengiz Tedoradze.

He won his next fight though, a three round unanimous decision victory over Dan Severn. Unfortunately he had to follow that victory up with a fight against Aleksander Emelianenko. That fight lasted 11 exciting seconds as he almost dispatched Alex but was instead knocked out himself. It was a pretty crazy fight with Thompson charging across the ring, knocking Alex to the ground then losing in a fast exchange of punches.

I actually got to see the tenth fight of his career when he defeated Henry Miller at “Bushido 8” in Nagoya, Japan. It was a pretty good fight although not nearly as good as the buildup to it. Bushido really knew how to make a fight show exciting. Even the best UFC shows look a little stale compared to Pride. In any event he TKO’d Miller after a relatively quick exchange and short ground battle.

James won his next three fights which included one of those Japanese freak show fights against Giant Silva. That was a ninety second display of strikes by Thompson with which he TKO’d the Giant.

Unfortunately for James, he lost his next three fights. One of these included a battle against the always difficult Kazuyuki Fujita at “Pride Total Elimination Absolute” in 2006. He was defeated by strikes at 8:25 of the first round (Remember in Pride the first round was ten minutes long) suffering a TKO which many people found surprising at the time.

Following these defeats things started to become a bit shaky for the fighter. He fought Eric Esch, better known as Butterbean, and was KO’d in the first round in what I consider a total joke of a fight. It was as bad of a ref stoppage that you will ever see. There is no way Eric belonged in the same ring with Thompson but it goes to show that everyone has a chance for things to go their way in MMA. Just ask Bisping who won that disgusting decision over Matt Hammil in England.

He followed that defeat with an epic victory over Don Frye in 2007 at “Pride-34 Kamikaze” They both deserve credit for that fight as it was a tremendous display of toughness on the part of Frye and Cardio on the part of Thompson as they stood toe to toe and exchanged blows. Thompson must have hit Frye fifty times. Frye never fell (other than a couple take downs and reversals) eventually turning his back in submission to Thompson, causing a ref stoppage no one- especially Frye, would disagree with.

Thompson was KO’d by Neil Grove in his next fight but his trouble really began when he signed with EliteXC. Losing to Butterbean was bad enough, getting involved with these cheats was a really big mistake. It just goes to show that when some people really need money they will do almost anything to get it. We all have to eat after all.

There is no doubt in my mind that Thompson’s next two fights, against Brett Rogers and Kimbo Slice were fixed affairs. Thompson showed none of the aggressiveness he is famous for and his lackluster effort in both engagements really makes one wonder. EliteXC was not a legitimate fight show—especially when it comes to their cash cow, Kimbo “The Bimbo” Slice. It is obvious to me that James was holding back the entire fight and could have easily dropped Kimbo in the first round.

The only proof I can offer of this fix was when Kimbo actually tapped in the second round. I think it was more like a signal to Thompson to lighten up because the ref did not stop the fight. It was an obvious tap which I believe was caused unintentionally by Thompson. Even trying to lose to Kimbo he almost won by mistake. I think this shows how pathetic Kimbo really is. It also shows that Thompson is so strong he can win fights when he’s trying to lose—kind of scary.

I hope we get to see Thompson fight again. I don’t think that we will see him in the UFC anytime soon. He is not exactly Dana’s kind of fighter. Thompson would be a challenge for anyone in the UFC though, including Brock Lesnar.

Agree or disagree—that’s your prerogative, but in my opinion Thompson is an exciting fighter to watch. I want to see him in action again real soon.