(Mock his cauliflower ear if you must, but don’t insult his intelligence.)

Nick Lembo of the New Jersey State Athletic Commission has been running around all week trying to justify the various early stoppages and strange occurrences from the Elite XC event in Newark last Saturday, but it seems like the more he talks, the more trouble he starts.

For instance, he recently claimed that James Thompson could have been fined for shoving referee Dan Miragliotta after the stoppage in his bout with Kimbo Slice, but Lembo explained that they opted not to do so because they thought “The Colossus” was so out of it that he shouldn’t be held responsible. Kind of like when you forgive your friend for getting drunk and peeing in your closet, because you know that’s just what he does and anyway it’s good ammunition to have for the eventual intervention.

But Thompson, in an interview with Five Ounces of Pain, takes umbrage with Lembo’s assessment:

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.

I have to say, Thompson has a point. You’d have to be pretty dazed to confuse Big Dan for Kimbo Slice. If the referee had been Mr. T (insert ‘pity the fool’ joke here), maybe then you could make the argument. But I think Thompson knew what he was doing. Maybe he was trying to get back at Miragliotta for some of the earlier shenanigans in the fight, which Thompson also expressed his displeasure with.

Sam Caplan: During the second round, you had Kimbo on the ground and you had his arm trapped in a crucifix. By certain counts, there was anywhere between 20-22 unanswered strikes delivered on your part to Kimbo. Do you feel the fight should have been stopped?

James Thompson: Yeah. Really, when it’s all said and done, basically if a fighter is unable to answer or improve his position, then a fight gets stopped. I just feel — and this is a gut instinct — but that if I was on the bottom and the roles were reversed, then the fight would have been stopped after 10, 11. That’s just the way I feel, maybe I am wrong. I don’t know, I just get that feeling.

Not only that, but I had the referee telling me he was going to stand it up if I didn’t keep working hard. But at the time, I was elbowing. I thought, what are you talking about, I’ve got his arm pinned? I’ve got his other arm locked down and I’m elbowing him. I’m throwing elbows and you’re telling me you possibly might stand it up? You don’t know what to think when something like that’s going on.

But yeah, of course I thought the fight should have been stopped.

That’s funny, Bas Rutten thinks the same thing. Weird.