‘I’m Fighting For The Underdogs’ – How Ben Woolliss Conquered Crohn’s Disease To Arrive In ONE Championship
Every fighter on the global stage carries a story. Few have carried one as heavy — or fought through it with as much sheer grit — as Ben “The Problem” Woolliss.
The Englishman returns to action in a bantamweight kickboxing battle against Thai veteran Petchtanong Petchfergus at ONE Fight Night 43: Tang vs. Gasanov on Prime Video, which emanates live in U.S. primetime on Friday, May 15, from Bangkok’s iconic Lumpinee Stadium.
He is ready to secure back-to-back wins against a pair of former ONE World Champions, just months after stopping Brazilian knockout machine John “Hands of Stone” Lineker with devastating calf kicks at ONE Fight Night 41 this past March.
Every single step toward this moment, however, came at a cost few will ever truly understand.
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The War Inside His Own Body
Ben Woolliss was first hit by what he now knows was a severe Crohn’s flare at the age of 20. He went undiagnosed for five agonizing years.
Crohn’s Disease is an incurable autoimmune condition that attacks the digestive tract from within, causing anemia, crushing fatigue, and weight loss severe enough to leave anyone living with it completely immobilized.
The timing could not have been crueler for the Grimsby native. It hit him hard during one of his very first sessions at Basement Martial Arts in Hertfordshire, England, where he had just relocated to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Sports Coaching.
He reflected:
“I remember walking up the stairs, and my legs were like lead. Then, during training, when I threw three kicks, I was absolutely exhausted and fell to the floor shortly after. I couldn’t describe the feeling, but looking back at it now, I would say it felt as if everything came crashing down on me.
“My coach, Oliver Warren, looked at me with concern. Before that, I had told him that I’ve been doing this my whole life, and I told him I had intended to become a fighter. So, to see that happen just as I moved there, it was bad.”
He kept fighting anyway. Across those five undiagnosed years, the Englishman competed for organizations like Glory Kickboxing and on major UK cards in the worst possible physical condition imaginable.
“The Problem” walked into the ring against elite opponents with his stomach so inflamed that he could not even rest his own hands on it without excruciating pain. His coaches asked the obvious questions. He waved them off and simply got on with it.
Woolliss continued:
“I’m walking into these rings fighting these multiple-time champions, these decorated fighters, and my mind is not where it should be. My thoughts were all just don’t get hit in the stomach. It is not the optimum way to be thinking about going into fights at this high level.
“I tried for years to find someone else who had been in a similar position. I knew GSP [Georges St-Pierre] spoke about it. I never really knew anybody else. I was just helplessly trying to do absolutely everything I could in my power to be able to just stay on this journey.”
The Body That Broke, The Fighter Who Did Not
Woolliss fought the disease on his own terms for as long as his body would allow. Then, in 2020, Crohn’s hit him with a force he could no longer absorb. The Englishman lost 14 kilograms and was reduced to skin and bone.
All he could do, for the most part, was lie in bed in Grimsby. There was nothing in the tank to even respond to his own family when they spoke to him. He describes the state as almost coma-like. Fully aware of everything happening around him, yet completely powerless to engage with any of it.
Most fighters would have surrendered the dream right there — not Woolliss.
The official diagnosis arrived around the turn of 2021. By then, doctors were already pushing him toward surgery, an intervention he flatly refused because he knew it would officially end his career. Instead, the Englishman turned to extreme dietary protocols for three years, trying absolutely anything that might give his body a fighting chance to continue his martial arts journey.
The physical rebuild started with one set of pad work at a time. Woolliss’ first coach drove him to the gym, ran him through exactly 20 seconds of work, and then drove him home. The next day, he went a little longer. It was the kind of compounding patience that nobody who hasn’t lived it could ever fully grasp.
Somewhere across that slow, stubborn climb, the flares began to retreat. The training began to compound. The condition never went away — and he expects it never will. Medication and strict discipline can manage the symptoms that bring remission, but the disease itself cannot be permanently eradicated.
But the man it tried to bury is the exact same man now standing on the grandest platform in combat sports.
He said:
“Even when I was 14 kilos down and laid at home, my only light was just me telling myself, ‘Okay, at some point you’re going to be able to stand.’ Then I could get to the gym. It started with just 20 seconds of padwork. But my light was always that. Even if I can do more tomorrow, it’s light. It got very dim, but it never went out.
“I managed to change a few things up and was in the best position of my life. Learning to cope with it made it so much better. Touch wood, I’m in a position where I feel completely healthy and optimum to be able to perform and compete how I should.”
Fighting For The Ones Who Cannot
Ben Woolliss’ destructive, highlight-reel victory over Lineker was the ultimate receipt for his suffering.
The Grimsby warrior took the kickboxing fight on short notice against a former ONE Bantamweight MMA World Champion boasting 20 career knockouts. It was the kind of daunting assignment that would have rattled most fighters making their promotional debut.
Instead, he walked into the Mecca of Muay Thai that night and walked out a little under two minutes later. Suddenly, the entire combat sports world knew his name.
The Englishman recalled:
“It was the perfect way to introduce myself to the fans here on this massive stage. The road that led to the win made the win more memorable. It wasn’t easy, absolutely tough, but I guess I nailed it.
“It showed that if you set your goals and you have a mission and you keep moving towards it regardless of where you are, then you can conquer it and do great things.”
For a long time, Woolliss kept his entire ordeal to himself. Head down. Work done. Whatever needs getting on with, get on with it. The disease was his to carry, and his to fight through in the quietest way he knew how.
But the global stage changes everything. A performance like that travels. So does the incredible story behind it. People suffering from Crohn’s disease stumbled across his journey and found something they could not find anywhere else: hope.
Hearing where his story had taken some of them changed his entire perspective. The ONE platform was no longer just a place to compete. It was a place to speak for the ones who could not.
“The Problem” concluded:
“I actually feel like me being given this light and being able to compete and be on these platforms is actually a bigger mission than just me. I’m here to show that no matter what pit you’re in, with the right determination and focus, you can do whatever it is that you want to do.
“I feel like I’m almost fighting for that. Anyone who just feels like they’re stuck – the underdogs, the misfits – if you find any similarities with this story, then you can just keep moving, you can keep pushing, and you can get out of it.”
