Askren, Thomas Cleared for Bellator 14

Welterweight tournament participants Ben Askren and Ryan Thomas successfully made weight on Wednesday in Chicago, making official the main event of April 15’s Bellator 15.

Both Askren, a 25-year-old Olympic wrester fighting out of Columbia, Mo., and Thomas, 25, of Indianola, Ill., registered weights of 170.5 pounds.

“Ben is a great wrestler, but this isn’t a wrestling match,” said Thomas (10-3) at the weigh-ins. “So we’re gonna find out if he’s a real fighter or if he should just stick to wrestling.”

Standing feet away from the comment, Askren (3-0) quipped, “The last person who talked about my wrestling got put to sleep.”

Bellator 14 will be televised live on FOX Sports Net at 8 p.m. ET. Sherdog.com will host a live play-by-play and chat of the event.

Televised Tournament Bouts:
Ben Askren (170.5) vs. Ryan Thomas (170.5)
Shad Lierley (144.5) vs. Wilson Reis (145.5)
Mike Ricci (155.5) vs. Pat Curran (155.5)
James Krause (155.5) vs. Toby Imada (155.5)

Local Feature Fight Card:
Jeff Curran (141) vs. Bryan Goldsby (141)
Felice Herrig (117) vs. Jessica Rakoczy (121)
Daniel Strauss (154) vs. Jonatas Novaes (156)
Louis Taylor (185.5) vs. Ryan Sturdy (188.5)*

*Sturdy was given 90 minutes to drop 2.5 pounds.