Anthony

cont...


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.

Sam Caplan: I just wanted to clarify something you said a few sentences ago. Did you say you were “robbed” or did you say you were “rocked?”

James Thompson: No, I said he did “rock” me. I was rocked but you know, in the beginning of the second round, I was rocked. I mean, I got caught with some heavy shots earlier in the fight and I was rocked at different stages but you know, that’s what a fight is, isn’t it? To see if you can come back from that. And before I’ve come back. Plus, on the scorecards, I was two rounds up. It’s just hard to comprehend, really.

Sam Caplan: That raises another question. What did you think about judge Eric Colon… the second round was crazy. Judge Douglas Crosby scored it 10-8 in your favor yet Eric Colon scored it 10-9, Kimbo. What’s your reaction to that?

James Thompson: I don’t know if Kimbo had hit him a few times before he had sat down and he was seeing funny? Maybe he thought I was Kimbo? Maybe that’s what happened? When I saw that again, less and less it’s starting to shock me, to be honest with you. When I had first saw that, I just couldn’t believe it. Half the round I was controlling. I was in a massively dominant position for more than half the round. For him to score it that way… not that it’s an insult to me, but as insult to MMA in general. He shouldn’t be doing that job.

Sam Caplan: In my opinion and in the opinion of a lot of others, I feel like you got a really bad deal out of this whole situation. Has Gary Shaw or EliteXC come to you and said “James, we’re going to give you a rematch. This has to be decided definitively.”

James Thompson: No, no they haven’t. I haven’t heard from them. Nothing. I mean, maybe they’ll give me a rematch? I’m not holding my breath, but see, all these things happened. But there’s not much I can do all these things that I’ve just been complaining about. But what would be fair and what EliteXC can do and is in their power to do, is to say “Okay, I can understand why you’re not happy. It’s not particularly our fault, but what we can do to rectify the decision is let you guys go at it again.” Do a doover and see what happens. And that would be fair and then I’d have a lot of respect for EliteXC if that would happen. Fingers crossed, let’s wait and see.

Sam Caplan: Do you have any plans to appeal the decision and just the overall level of officiating that took place on Saturday?

James Thompson: Yeah, I’ve had a lot of time to look over things. It’s just that right afterwards everything is a bit hazy. Everything happens so quick. So many things were happening that I like to take a little bit of time out and really see how I felt about it all. Weigh it all up. But now that I’ve thought about it, I feel like I owe it to myself to at least appeal the decision. Just for myself to see what can become of it.

Sam Caplan: The Shaws seem very closely aligned to Kimbo. I spoke to writers in press row who had mention in great detail that Jared Shaw, a Vice President with EliteXC was yelling at Dan Miragliotta in the second round to stand the fight up. Then, when the fight was over, Jared Shaw was one of the first people, if not the first person, to run into the cage to congratulate Kimbo. Do you feel like there was favoritism on the part of the promoter towards Kimbo?

James Thompson: You know what, obviously Kimbo is the main guy that they’ve heavily invested money in. He’s got a great story and he sells tickets. Now, I knew all of this going into it. I didn’t pay it much attention basically just because I’ve got a job to do. You know, you always have favorites in fights and all that. It didn’t really bother me. I didn’t pay it much attention. But to be honest, I was upset I suppose when his son, Jared, was screaming for the referee to stand it up. And then to be the first one to jump through in the ring… you don’t know what to think, to be fair. I just look at that and I see that and it leaves me in a situation of saying, well what? I mean, neither of the Shaws have said anything about it or come on record to say what — I don’t know, Jared’s son manages Kimbo, someone said? He helps manage him? [editor’s note: “Icey” Mike Ember is Kimbo Slice’s manager of record] I don’t know, it just seems like a bit of a conflict of interest to me. Again, it makes me feel not just not happy about it, but slightly uneasy. But yeah, it just leaves me with a big question mark basically and just kind of raises a few questions that I feel need to be cleared up.

Sam Caplan: That’s all I had as far as questions, but I wanted to do this interview so you could get your side out. Is there anything else you’d like to express?

James Thompson: I just wanted to say it was a honor to be on the CBS card in the main event. I feel like, and not just for me, but there was a lot of bad decisions in very good fights which shouldn’t have happened. I’m just really glad the ratings were so good for Elite and CBS. But I do feel it’s a shame for MMA to have such controversy on its biggest night. I mean, that’s a part of sports. You’re always going to get things people don’t agree with and things don’t always quite run right. That’s a part of sport and I understand that but there were so many bad decisions and there were so many things that just weren’t right. It kind of makes me sad that this had to happen on the biggest MMA card to date.

__________________