Kimbo Gets Rogers, Thompson Gets The Shaft
Photo From The L.A. Times
Brett Rogers, who had very noticeably called out Kimbo Slice during the post fight press conference at EliteXC: Primetime, has apparently gotten his wish:
“Slice appeared on Dan Le Batard’s radio show today and said he’ll fight Rogers next, “probably in October.” “They called me out, and now they got the fight,” Slice said of Rogers and his camp.”
Kimbo Slice vs. Brett Rogers is a great fight in the making, since it finally challenges Kimbo’s specialty- the stand up game. However if this bout indeed comes to fruition, it nonetheless leaves James Thompson completely out in the cold in terms of a rematch. You all remember James Thompson right? The guy who was hand picked to get knocked out by Kimbo only to lose via an awfully suspicious referee stoppage. Well in a perfect and logical universe, Thompson would get the opportunity for redemption via a rematch with the man they call Kimbo. However it seems obvious that the powers that be within EliteXC have no intention of throwing Thompson back in with Slice, and Thompson knows it:
“I haven’t heard from them [Elite XC]. 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.”
And in case you were curious, Thompson also refuted the notion that when the bout was stopped, he was so punch-drunk that he thought he was still fighting Kimbo when he shoved referee Dan Miragliotta:
“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.”
The truth is that James Thompson will probably never be one of the top tier mixed martial artists, but no doubt he deserves better than the treatment he received from EliteXC brass. Even if a gold strap or MMA glory is never in the cards for “The Colossus”, I find it difficult to argue against the right for him to get at least one more fair crack at Kimbo Slice. Will it ever happen? I’d have to agree with Thompson and say no, the rematch is not very likely for a laundry list of reasons.
The only salvation I can offer James Thompson in the wake of his injustice is the possibility of witnessing one Kimbo Slice crumple to the canvas at the hands of the unafraid, heavy handed Brett Rogers. I also believe that the tides of fandom may be shifting away from Slice due to last Saturday’s debacle, and will even go as far to say that perhaps Kimbo will not be the crowd favorite the next time he steps into the cage.
This is MMA, not boxing. They don’t do rematches everytime someone doesn’t like the outcome. There’s too much talent out there to waste putting on the same matches, that no one wanted in the first place, over and over again.