James "The Colossus" Thompson (born December 16, 1978) is a British Mixed Martial Arts fighter. He currently fights as a heavyweight for Elite XC in USA and Cage Rage in the United Kingdom. He is characterized by his size, strength, affability and humility. In interviews he has described his occupations before professional fighting as "debt collector" and "Gypsy remover"
Thompson is known for his tendency to stare down his opponents, similar to that of Wanderlei Silva. He tends to start quickly, rushing up to his opponents as soon as the match starts. His punk image and rowdy brawling style earned him the nickname "Megapunk".
Biography
Thompson grew up in Rochdale near Manchester, had no real direction when he left school, so started 'working the door' in his home town. Fed up with the lack of opportunities, he moved to Bristol in 2001 to start a fresh in a new city. Again Thompson found work on the local doors, which gave him the chance to meet new friends, part of the social activities were wrestling, which Thompson took up as sport. Thompson competed in a couple of wrestling matches before seeing a mixed martial arts fight with Don Frye, which ultimately gave James his calling.
Professional MMA Debut
Thompson began his mixed martial arts career fighting for the noted “old school” British association, Ultimate Combat. His professional debut was against Mark “The Shark” Goddard at Ultimate Combat 6: Battle in the Cage. The fight ended by referee stoppage at the 1:39 mark of the second round, with Thompson the victor. Goddard disputed the result, saying that Thompson had tapped earlier to one of his armbar attempts. This sparked a rivalry between the two, which would later be resolved at Ultimate Combat 8: Retribution where Thompson won a second fight against Goddard in eighteen seconds.
'Gong and Dash'
Thompson came in dramatically bigger and in better shape for his second fight at Ultimate Combat and defeated his opponent, Ritchie Cranny, in just over a minute and a half. This fight saw the birth of what would become something of a trademark for him - christened by Japanese Pride FC fans as 'Gong and Dash'. His entrance, the stare down, and his aggressive fighting style appealed to many and made him extremely popular amongst fight fans the world over.
Thompson suffered his first loss from Georgian fighter Tengiz Tedoradze. Tedoradze managed to stop Thompson's initial charge and won via doctor stoppage after the second round. Thompson was then offered an Ultimate Combat World Championship fight against Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Dan “The Beast” Severn at Ultimate Combat 11: Eyes of the Beast which he won via a unanimous decision.
On the same day of his title bout with Severn, Thompson was told that he had been offered a fight at the well known fight organization, Pride FC. This made him the United Kingdom's third mixed martial artist to compete in Pride’s ring, only preceded by English boxer and kickboxer, Matt Skelton and Steve White.
PRIDE
After defeating Severn, he came to PRIDE to face Aleksander Emelianenko at Pride 28: High Octane. Thompson began with his trademark staredown, and despite losing the fight in only eleven seconds, he remained with the organization, earning quick victories over Henry Miller and Giant Silva. Thompson also continues to fight in the United Kingdom in organizations such as Cage Rage.
At PRIDE Shockwave 2006 on December 31, 2006, Thompson caused an upset when he defeated Olympic judo gold medalist and renowned heavyweight fighter Hidehiko Yoshida. In his next in PRIDE was at PRIDE 34 where Thompson defeated American fighter Don Frye.
Cage Rage
Between his matches in PRIDE, Thompson continued to fight with Cage Rage. After his initial win against Andy Costello at Cage Rage 13, he lost his next three fights with the promotion against Rob Broughton Eric "Butterbean" Esch and Neil Grove. His loss to Grove was his last fight with the promotion before moving on to fight for EliteXC.
EliteXC
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