Ben Askren, Ryan Thomas lead way as fighters hit the scale for Bellator 14
The 16 fighters slated for tonight's Bellator Fighting Championships 14 event, including headliners Ben Askren (3-0 MMA, 0-0 BFC) and Ryan Thomas (10-3 MMA, 0-0 BFC), who meet in the first round of the promotion's season-two welterweight tournament, hit the scales for the show.
The weigh-ins took place Wednesday at the Chicago Theatre in Chicago, which also hosts tonight's event.
The event airs live on FOX Sports Net (or on a few hours' delay if preempted by local sports programming), and highlights packages air Saturday on NBC, Telemundo and mun2.
A two-time UFC veteran, Thomas used the evening's pre-event press conference to throw a few verbal jabs at his opponent.
"Ben is a great wrestler, but this isn't a wrestling match," Thomas said. "So we're gonna find out if he's a real fighter or if he should just stick to wrestling."
A former collegiate national wrestling champion and a 2008 Olympian, Askren said he's just fine with the transition to mixed martial arts.
"The last person who talked about my wrestling got put to sleep," Askren said.
Bellator Fighting Championships 14 also includes the final two opening-round bouts of the promotion's lightweight tournament, as well as a featherweight tournament first-round bout between Shad Lierley and Wilson Reis.
The full weigh-in results included:
MAIN CARD
* Ben Askren (170.5) vs. Ryan Thomas (170.5) - welterweight tourney first round
* Shad Lierley (144.5) vs. Wilson Reis (145.5) - featherweight tourney first round
* Pat Curran (155.5) vs. Mike Ricci (155.5) - lightweight tourney first round
* Toby Imada (155.5) vs. James Krause (155.5) - lightweight tourney first round
PRELIMINARY CARD
* Jeff Curran (141) vs. Bryan Goldsby (141)
* Felice Herrig (117) vs. Jessica Rakoczy (121)
* Jonatas Novaes (156) vs. Daniel Straus (154)
* Louis Taylor (185.5) vs. Ryan Sturdy (188.5)*
* - Sturdy weighed 188.5 pounds on his first attempt. Bellator has yet to release the results of his second trip to the scale.
Source: http://mmajunkie.com/news/18724/ben-ask ... tor-14.mma