Kimbo Slice vs. James Thompson Confirmed For CBS-EliteXC Debut
Kevin “Kimbo Slice†Ferguson will meet James “The Colossus†Thompson in the main event of the first ever mixed martial arts show to air on network television reports NBCSports.com. The inaugural rendition of “CBS-EliteXC Saturday Night Fights†had Slice tapped to headline the May 31 card, but until now an opponent had not been confirmed.
The twenty-nine-year-old English-born Thompson is 14-8 in his MMA career with notable victories over Dan Severn, Hidehiko Yoshida, and Don Frye. Over the years Thompson has become somewhat known for his two distinguishing polar characteristics — heavy hands and a glass jaw. In fact, while Thompson has won nine of his total fights via knock out or technical knock out, he has also never lost a fight via decision, only by either KO, TKO, or submission. A veteran of PrideFC, Thompson last competed in February at Elite XC’s “Street Certififed†where he was knocked out by Brett Rogers midway through the first round. Prior to that Thompson faced Neil Grove at Cage Rage 22, where he was also knocked out just 10 seconds into the opening frame.
Given the nature of both Kimbo and his new opponent, I think it’s fair to say that our winner will likely be determined by whoever is lucky enough to land the first good shot. Though James Thompson has looked all shades of lousy in recent performances, he does enjoy a significant height and reach advantage over “internet sensation†Kimbo Slice, which I imagine he will attempt to exploit for as long as possible once the bell sounds.
Stay tuned to MMAFreny.com for extensive coverage of the May 31st event.
Tags: James Thompson, kimbo slice
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Not very exciting to watch elite xc slowly build Kimbo up by having him fight no-names in main events.
Just another dummy for Kimbo to knock out ! Kimbo seems to be used for a combo of entertainment and MMA….This is not competitive MMA….Oh well, I’ll still watch it so who am I to talk !
I’m a big guy with no skills. Maybe EliteXC will ask me to fight Kimbo next. I’ll take 50K to get knocked out.
AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN! Elite XC proving my point of view that they are a joke. Kimbo is their biggest name and he has not fought even ONE decent opponent. What a f-n garbage promotion. Any fight involving Kimbo is not MMA in my opinion. I just can’t wait to see Kimbo fight a legimate fighter.
i agree with all these guys saying that kimbo needs to fight a legit opponent…And for that to happen he needs to get out of elite xc and into the UFC…where all the real fighters
Kimbo is fight a dude who has is 2-6 in his last 8 fights…yep kimbo is for real! (man do i hate eliteXC) If that is what CBS wanted then thank God dana didn’t make a deal!
Kimbo Slice is the 3rd best heavyweight fighter in all of MMA behind Fedor and Couture. And that is just with one year of MMA training. Within two years he will be the best in the world.
Boyd what the f are you talking about? Really? REALLY?
Eddy, pay no attention to Boyd, he must be Kimbo’s handler, he’s biased.
Way ta go give Kimbo more bums to kmnockout wtf give him some real competion
Well its a little better…at least this guy has a winning record….jeez. I enjoy EliteXC but they need to quit hyping this guy up until he fights a legitimate fighter. I just get annoyed when I hear his name.
Kimbo is yet unproven, other than the king of the street bums, put him in the cage with a real fighter. I don’t see him lasting.
The UFC gave Brock a guy they fought could beat him in she first fight…And with help from the ref Mir did…Elite is just thowing cans at Kimbo…kimbo be a man like brock and ask for real fighters!
perfect…a guy with a known glass jaw vs. a guy who can’t do **** but swing for the fences.
but can you blame eliteXC, im sure they’re makin money off this chump…so of course they’re going to protect him…but do they really have to make it so obvious haha
Since he’s Elite’s meal ticket they are not exactly going to toss him to the wolves without getting their money’s worth. The probably want to build him up to the point where the UFC has to buy him from them. In order to do that he has to KO everyone they put in front of him, starting with once-upon-a-timers like Ray Mercer, Tank Abbot and perhaps Ken Shamrock, then moving slowly through hand-picked more current fighters until finally down the road they challenge him with someone more or less for real. Meanwhile, Kimbo will improve. He’s never going to be a well-rounded fighter, he has too much invested in his fists, but he will be a threat to guys who prefer to stand and trade. He hits very hard and he can take a punch. Down the road I’d give him a chance against guys like Cabbage or even a Tim Sylvia, who is good all-around but prefers to trade. But Elite will never to what the UFC did to Lesnar and toss him in with a guy like Mir, who is almost guaranteed to submit him. Kimbo’s KO mystique will last as long as he doesn’t fight a great wrestler or submissions guy. But as far as freak show match-up go, I would like to see him fight either Brock or Chuck Liddell, if he were to move up a class for one fight. He’d actually have a much better shot against Chuck.
Thompson is gonna take Kimbo down and pound him till he’s out………. End of story and end of the road for MMA’s next big thing!!
Oh my god! I can’t take this anymore!!! Kimbo you are not an MMA fighter!!! You are a joke! This guy is the schoolyard bully who picks on people he knows he can beat with no ability! Fight someone with ground skill so we quit hearing about you! But you know the bully eventually picks the wrong guy who he thinks ain’t tough. Please let Thompson be that guy and knock this loser out!!!
I agree that they want to feed him some easier guys first but what do we expect, he is one of their very few “Franchise” fighters. That said the competition does continue to to get better. Bo quit before he hit the ground, Tank while old and not the most talented, Is game to go out there and atleast try to win and now theres Thompson who has beaten older Tank like fighters in Frye and Severn(who both have a better MMA game than Tank). So while his chin may be suspect at best, with the height and reach advantage, He WILL be the biggest test yet for Kimblo.
The last fight James Thompson fought the announcers were talking about his history of having a glass jaw and he gets knocked out. He’s not going to be much of a test for Kimbo. A real test for him would be facing somebody like Antonio Nogueira or Frank Mir. Somebody who can take a beating while they eventually get a submission on him. Even Kimbo’s trainer Bas Rutten was interviewed and said that a submission fighter would probably give Kimbo some trouble.
you cant say he is or isnt a good fighter yet until he fights someone whos atleast decent.when you think about it theres really no one in the elites that is even a alright fighter to match up with him.i think the only thing he has going for him is that he trains with Bas.
I think they should make Kimbo shave his beard. Its an unfair advantage to have a coushion on your chin. Hillbilly Jim used the same tactic in the 80s when Hogan took him under his wing.
No one is asking for Kimbo to fight Fedor, or even a upper mid guy like Brandon Vera. But what about Brett Rogers? The guy who knocked out James “glassjaw” Thompson or Robert Berry? These guys are no name brand fighter that like to bang.
I don’t get this, I think no matter what happens Kimbo’s stock is going down faster then drunk college girl. If Kimbo has any pride what so ever, he’ll fight someone that I can’t knock out.
Someone who can get out of the first round. Kimbo should hang his hand in shame. Gary Goodridge is calling him out, fight Gary kimbo you loser! What about Brandon Lee Hinkle? Show Sean Gannon up.
I agree with MJ. Kimbo is NEW to MMA. He just recently started training MMA. He walked into the gym as a one trick pony and with some training, he might have a future. Only time will tell. I dont think it will happen, but I dont know his heart. If he is motivated, he can improve his game.
Before you bash Kimbo, consider you opinion of Bas. If you think Bas is a joke or a crappy trainer, then go ahead and hate on Kimbo. I think Bas has an eye for fighters though and he sees something (I dont) in Kimbo. Ill give him the respect to play it out.
Here is my prediction. Kimbo will continue to fight chumps but one of the chumps will have a mildly rounded game and will submit Kimbo or manhandle him in some other way. Kimbo will continue to train and eventually be a decent MMA fighter. He will never take a serious title or anything, but he will have some interesting KO’s along the way.
I really think James stands the best chance of anyone that Kimbo has ever fought. For one everyone says James has a glass jaw but consider this: There is no man alive who would be standing if hit square on the button by Neil Grove or Butterbean. NONE. I won’t be surprised if he beats Kimbo nor will I be surprised if he gets knocked out. It’s not his chin it’s how susceptible he makes himself to the big punch. James has an impressive physique and believes he can intimidate his opponents and run in swinging, this obviously hasn’t worked very well recently.
The picture for this article is just wrong….
i think kimbo is gonna win no problem. james hasn’t competed at the level kimbo has so i say kimbo hands down
I can’t believe half of what i’m reading on here, look other than the punchers chance kimbo stands no chance Thompson is a very well rounded fighter given he’s more known for his strikes but he does have a good ground game. So lets add it all up Thompson is a veteran of the sport having fights in organisations such as Pride and CageRage he has a ground game and he can strike, now lets look at Kimbo he has good strikes and a nice youtube profile . I just see it as simple math (other than the punchers chance of course)
kimbo is not as bad as u guys are trying to paint him.
he has the power, now will get his sprawl and submissions from rutten. he will win many fights very soon…
he might become like quinton jackson or iceman, who are mainly stand-up guys but know howto defend from take downs…
give him a chance. u all make the mma sound like some kabbalistic priesthood… all it is is swinging your fstsandfeet with some intelligece, its not nuclear physics.
kimbo will never be a proven figther because as long as his name is so big they’re gonna protect him and make money off of all the suckers who want to see him whup some poor chump w/ a glass jaw or some has been. he’s a joke, don’t ever expect to see him fight anyone real, but still wouldn’t be surprised to see him fight in the UFC because dana likes to put butts in the seats!
Kimbo is to the elite Xc as brock lesnar is to the ufc they are only there to make the org’s money plain and simply but if anything brock lesnar is far worse MMA fighter the kimbo because hes only fighting because of he fame from wwe he only fought 2 mma fights and his only win is over KimMin Soo Kim with a record of 3 – 6 – 0. in k-1 then with one win inder his belt its time for the big league the UFC where he faced of with Frank Mir and was easily submitted early in round one. and for his loss was paid more the twice the amount of frank Mir. and now for his SECOND Fight hes fighting Mark Coleman (don’t get me wrong i like mark his a good fighter) but is at the ripe age of 43 and his last fight was almost 3 years ago in witch he lost to Fedor Emelianenko is even if he wins that what does that prove he can take on old men and kick his ass. Now look at Kimbo his fame comes from the web from underground street fights. so hes know for fighting so thats good and hes fighting in elitexc which by all means is a small time promotion so so you could still get away with calling him a amature fighter, currently training under MMA LEGEND Bas Rutten so if he keeps with the training will not be a one trick pony forever. so if you look at it that way both are not proven vets yet but its who stay’s in it for the long run that makes him a Real MMA Fighter.
Kimbo WILL get his ass handed to him by liddell….he is a tough guy but NO ….and I mean NO skills whatsoever….he beats up on the neighborhood tough guys!!!!….and forrest griffin knocked him out with a kick to the head in a sparring match!!!
The knockout by Griffin was just something started by Dana White that’s since been denied but Kimbo definitely need to prove himself and show an improved skill set before he should even be matched up against someone like Liddell, let alone stand a chance to beat him.
HOW CAN ANYONE EVEN THINK ABOUT THESE TWO FIGHTING.THERE IN TO DIFFERENT WEIGHT CLASSES.YOU COULD MATCH HIM UP AGAINST SOMEONE LIKE KONGO,HERRIN,MIR,SOMEONE THATS KNOWN AROUND THE WORLD AND IS ACTUALLY GOOD.EVEN THE GUY HE’S FIGHTING ON CBS ISNT NOTHING THAT GREAT,GOOD FIGHTER BUT STILL NOT A HUGE TEST.ID LIKE TO SEE TAPE OF THIS GRIFFIN FIGHT.TRY MMA FIGHT VIDEOS AND THEN CLICK ON ULTIMATE MMA BLOG.GREAT SITE
I’m pretty sure they could settle on a catchweight and could come to terms on a fight if all parties involved really wanted to.