Yeah it's nice when people remember you when they have no reason too. Jason Byrne the comedian always remembers me for some reason, I end up on stage with him most times I see him.
As for James Thompson, he was fighting on the same card as a friend of mine, early 2000's I think, down in Brighton or Hastings. They both lost, I forget the specifics of the JT fight but my boy was on the prelims as an amateur fight.
Anway both camps kind of knew each other, we had a lot of smoke with us and they offered us a lift back to Essex, so we all got blazed on the drive home. Met him a bunch of times afterwards and he'd always come over for a chat or a beer, top bloke!
I used to run with a lot of the local MMA scene back in the day, especially Essex way. Circus Tavern Purfleet etc. Early Cage Rage events we had a few friends fight in, usually amateur pre-prelims, usually one and done, but we got to meet a lot of cool people.
Jens Pulver was best, I remember talking to him about his Dusty speech and how it choked me up back in the day, we both got kind of emotional and hugged it out. Dude was real, no fake bullyshit with him