Mike Chiappetta • E-mail

EliteXC President Gary Shaw makes no secret about Kimbo Slice’s value to the organization, calling him its “franchise player,” comparing his aura to that of former boxing great Mike Tyson, and generally anointing him as the next MMA great. The media demand for him was so great that EliteXC was at one point backed up with 150 requests for interviews.

And with all of that, it is safe to say that Kimbo Slice is the face of the company.

A face that James Thompson can’t wait to hit.

Because while 90 percent of the attention goes to one of the participants on a 12-fight card, no one has been ignored and discounted the way Thompson has. And if Kimbo wants to rise to the cream of the crop in MMA, he'll have to move the 6-foot-5, 260-pound roadblock in his way to do it.

Thompson known as “The Colossus” in the U.S., and as “Megapunk” in Japan, is a hulk who has a 14-8 career mark in the sport, having earned an international reputation for exciting matches when he fought in the now-defunct PRIDE organization. Kimbo at one time was homeless. His rise is impressive, but while much has been made of Kimbo’s “from the streets to Elite” back story, Thompson has also seen interesting slices of life. How many pro athletes have “gypsy remover” and “debt collector” on their resume?

Thompson is a colorful character who makes no bones about saying he might not actually deserve the opportunity yet is fully planning on taking advantage of it.

The UK native was part of PRIDE when it was purchased by UFC owners Zuffa LLC, but when it came time to transfer contracts, Thompson got the call saying his services were not required. He spent time in the last year training with Randy Couture at the Xtreme Couture gym in Las Vegas, but spent his Kimbo training camp with London Shootfighters, one of the top teams in his country.

While Thompson had a strong start to his career, even defeating UFC Hall of Famer Dan Severn, he began a stumble in 2006 which ultimately led to losses in six of his last eight fights. Tellingly, five of the six came on knockouts. Given Kimbo’s reputation as a standup fighter, it seems a tailor-made matchup, but Thompson says that is not necessarily so.

“Obviously, I’m being brought in because I’m a big guy, and an exciting fighter,” Thompson says. “People think if I get hit on the chin, it’s night over for me. It doesn’t bother me. It gives me a chance. After my last two fights, I’m not sure I deserve a chance. But I got one.”

While most fighters choose to keep their game plans close to the vest, Thompson has always favored the standup style. But surprisingly, he says he has alternatives in mind should he need them.

“I don’t want to go to a three-round standup war with Kimbo,” he says. “At some point, we’ll go to the floor and see what he’s got there.”

For his part, Kimbo says he is more than willing to show his ground skills, having trained with MMA pioneer Bas Rutten for over a year.

“I’m expecting it to go the ground and do some ground work,” he says. “You don’t understand, I’m more excited about going to the ground than fighting standup. I’m looking forward to that.”

Thompson has just four submission wins in his career, but two of them are from strikes. He hasn’t seen an opponent tap out since March 2004. On the flipside, his hands are extremely heavy, and he’s only had one fight go to decision in his career. While many are discounting Thompson because of his chin, they are forgetting that he has nine knockout wins, and if he connects before Kimbo, the upset is quite possible.

Either way, it’s unlikely that the main event will go to the judge’s scorecards and the combatants wouldn’t have it any other way.

“With MMA, there are all these different elements, so I couldn’t predict how it will end,” Thompson said. “All I know is I’m training hard. We both come to fight and give our all. It’s going to be a helluva fight.”

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