Ryan Drew Thomas - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Ryan Drew Thomas is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

professional mixed martial artist (MMA) from Indianola, Illinois

Indianola, Illinois

Indianola is a village in Carroll Township, Vermilion County, Illinois, United States. It is part of the 'Danville, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area'...

. He has a degree from Eastern Illinois University in elementary education. He also wrestled at Eastern Illinois University.

Career

Ryan started his career at middleweight

Middleweight

Middleweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s. In the bare-knuckle era, the first middleweight championship fight was between Tom Chandler and Dooney Harris in 1897...

(185 pounds), but dropped to welterweight

Welterweight

Welterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...

(170 pounds) after only a few fights.

Ryan has fought for the Ultimate Fighting Championships, Bellator Fighting Championships, Courage Fighting Championships, Dragons Cage, Genesis MMA, World Fighting Championships, and he also won the "Iowa Meanest Man Tournament" (a sixteen man tournament) in Davenport, Iowa.

He made his UFC debut at UFC 87

UFC 87

UFC 87: Seek and Destroy was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on August 9, 2008, at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.-Background:...

against Ben Saunders

Ben Saunders (fighter)

Benjamin Saunders , is an American professional mixed martial artist. His background is in Jeet Kune Do Concepts and he was a featured fighter on The Ultimate Fighter: Team Hughes vs. Team Serra, fighting on Team Serra....

, losing via submission in round two. His next fight was against Matt Brown

Matt Brown (fighter)

Matthew Burton Brown is an American professional mixed martial artist.Brown starred in the seventh season of The Ultimate Fighter television series and was eliminated from the show in the ninth episode due to a loss to Amir Sadollah by Triangle Choke...

at UFC 91

UFC 91

UFC 91: Couture vs. Lesnar was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on November 15, 2008 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The main event featured the return of UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture versus Brock Lesnar in a title...

, again, losing via submission in round two.

Bellator Fighting Championships

He has signed on with upstart promotion, Bellator Fighting Championships

Bellator Fighting Championships

Bellator Fighting Championships is a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States. "Bellator", which is Latin for "Warrior", is organized into seasons with each event hosting the rounds of championship knockout tournaments for three-five weight divisions.-History:In its first season,...

. He took part in their second season welterweight tournament, losing to Ben Askren

Ben Askren

Ben Askren is an American former amateur wrestler for the University of Missouri and U.S. Olympic team. He is now a mixed martial artist and the current Bellator Welterweight Champion.-Wrestling:...

via controversial stoppage in the first round. The Ref had stopped the fight even though Thomas was not asleep and did not tap.

After Jim Wallhead

Jim Wallhead

Jim Wallhead is an English professional mixed martial artist, based in Leicestershire, England, who competes in the welterweight division. Wallhead's background is in Judo, where he holds a Black Belt having trained under Olympic silver medallist Neil Adams...

was pulled from the tournament, Thomas was given another chance. At Bellator 15 he fought Jacob McClintock

Jacob McClintock

Jacob Patrick McClintock is an American mixed martial artist. McClintock is a welterweight fighter and has a record of 6-2, all six win have been stopped in round one. He is most known for his stint with Bellator Fighting Championships...

. Thomas defeated McClintock by TKO in the first round to receive a rematch with Askren. In that fight on May 20th, Askren came out victorious again with a unanimous decision in 3 rounds.

Thomas eventually faced Wallhead on October 14, 2010 at Bellator 32. He lost the fight via unanimous decision.

Mixed martial arts record

|-
|Loss
|align=center|12-7
|

Racine, Wisconsin

Racine is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. According to 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the city had a population of 82,196...

, USA
|For the Illinois state title.
|-
|Win
|align=center|12-6
|

Kokomo, Indiana

Kokomo is a city in and the county seat of Howard County, Indiana, United States, Indiana's 13th largest city. It is the principal city of the Kokomo, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Howard and Tipton counties....

, USA
|
|-
|-
|Loss
|align=center|11-6
|

Jim Wallhead

Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

, USA
|
|-
|Loss
|align=center|11-5
|

Ben Askren

Ben Askren is an American former amateur wrestler for the University of Missouri and U.S. Olympic team. He is now a mixed martial artist and the current Bellator Welterweight Champion.-Wrestling:...

Grand Prairie, Texas

Grand Prairie is a city in Dallas, Ellis, and Tarrant counties in the U.S. state of Texas and is a part of the Mid-Cities region in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Grand Prairie is a suburb of both Dallas and Fort Worth and had a population of 175,396 at the 2010 census.- History :The city of...

, USA
|
|-
|Win
|align=center|11-4
|

Jacob McClintock

Uncasville, Connecticut

Uncasville is an area in the town of Montville, Connecticut. The area traditionally known as Uncasville is a village in southeastern Montville, at the mouth of the Oxoboxo River...

, USA
|
|-
|Loss
|align=center|10-4
|

Ben Askren

Ben Askren is an American former amateur wrestler for the University of Missouri and U.S. Olympic team. He is now a mixed martial artist and the current Bellator Welterweight Champion.-Wrestling:...

| Technical Submission (guillotine choke)
|Bellator 14
|
|align="center"|1
|align="center"|2:40
|Chicago, Illinois, USA
|
|-
|Win
|align=center|10-3
|

Anderson, Indiana

Anderson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Indiana, United States. It is the principal city of the Anderson, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses Madison county. Anderson is the headquarters of the Church of God and home of Anderson University, which is...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

|
|-
|Loss
|align=center|9-3
|

Matt Brown

Matt Brown (fighter)

| Submission (armbar)
| UFC 91

UFC 91

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

|
|-
|Loss
|align=center|9-2
|

Ben Saunders

Ben Saunders (fighter)

| Submission (armbar)
| UFC 87

UFC 87

UFC 87: Seek and Destroy was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on August 9, 2008, at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.-Background:...

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

|
|-
|Win
|align=center|9-1
|

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

|
|-
|Win
|align=center|8-1
|

Champaign, Illinois

Champaign is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, in the United States. The city is located south of Chicago, west of Indianapolis, Indiana, and 178 miles northeast of St. Louis, Missouri. Though surrounded by farm communities, Champaign is notable for sharing the campus of the University of...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

|
|-
|Win
|align=center|7-1
|

Danville, Illinois

Danville is a city in Vermilion County, Illinois, United States. It is the principal city of the'Danville, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area' which encompasses all of Danville and Vermilion County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 32,467. It is the county seat of...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

|
|-
|Win
|align=center|6-1
|

Decatur, Illinois

Decatur is the largest city and the county seat of Macon County in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city, sometimes called "the Soybean Capital of the World", was founded in 1823 and is located along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. In 2000 the city population was 81,500,...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

|
|-
|Loss
|align=center|5-1
|

Jesse Lennox

Jesse Lennox is an American mixed martial artist. He was formerly signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship fighting in their welterweight division before being cut with a 1-2 record with the promotion.-International Fight League:...

Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Cedar Rapids is the second largest city in Iowa and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, north of Iowa City and east of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

|
|-
|Win
|align=center|5-0
|

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

|
|-
|Win
|align=center|4-0
|

Terre Haute, Indiana

Terre Haute is a city and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, near the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a population of 170,943. The city is the county seat of Vigo County and...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

|
|-
|Win
|align=center|3-0
|

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

|
|-
|Win
|align=center|2-0
|

Decatur, Illinois

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

|
|-
|Win
|align=center|1-0
|

Marion, Illinois

The city of Marion is the county seat of Williamson County, Illinois. The 2010 census counted 17,193 residents, making Marion the 25th most populated city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area, in Illinois, and the second most populous city in Southern Illinois, outside of the Metro-East, behind...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

External links

Professional MMA record

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