A fighter who nearly lost everything to illness is not about to lose momentum to one bad scorecard.
Ben Woolliss meets former K-1 Champion Yuki Yoza in a bantamweight kickboxing showdown at The Inner Circle 22 on Friday, July 17. The card streams live for members from Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
The 32-year-old Englishman announced himself with a first-round destruction of former MMA king John Lineker in his promotional debut this past March. He dropped a hard-fought unanimous decision to former World Champion Petchtanong Petchfergus in May, but that defeat has done nothing to dim his fire.
“Looking back, I think there were more positives for me to take from that fight. I pushed him to three rounds. There were some things I could have done better, but there were also things I did that were pretty impressive,†Woolliss said.
“But I'm not losing sleep over it. I'm just focused on fixing the shortcomings from that fight, tightening up my defense, and working on my attacks against Yoza.â€
Ben Woolliss breaks down Yuki Yoza, promises new tricks
Yoza enters on the back of a three-fight winning streak against elite opposition, a run only recently halted by reigning World Champion Jonathan Haggerty at ONE SAMURAI 1 this past April. Woolliss has spent his camp dissecting exactly how his opponent likes to operate.
“From what I've seen, I can say that he does not give room for any of his opponents to operate. He loves to close the distance behind those calf kicks of his, and immediately try to swarm you with follow-up shots,†the Englishman said.
“But he doesn't really do much of a great job with his hands. He does hit you, but it doesn't seem like anything that will entirely rock me. That said, I cannot get careless against someone who has just as much explosiveness as I do inside the pocket.â€
Seven years battling Crohn's disease taught Woolliss patience, and he insists the fighter stepping into Lumpinee Stadium this time is sharper than the one fans have seen so far.
“Fans can expect a lot more new weapons from me in this fight. Throughout the seven years that I was away due to Crohn's disease, I have leveled up every single day behind the scenes,†the Grimsby native revealed.
“The discipline and intensity are the same here. I've worked my socks off to improve. Whether it's the right hand or the calf kicks that helped me knock out Lineker, everything will be far more dangerous and sharper.â€
MMA Fighting has a live stream watch party for Saturday's UFC 332 event at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. In the main event, Natalia Silva faces Wang Cong for the vacant UFC women's flyweight title. Valentina Shevchenko vacated the championship after suffering an injury.
Join Mike Heck and Jed Meshew as they watch the main card, and more live with the MMA Fighting community.
In the co-main event, surging bantamweight contender Payton Talbott looks to continue his rise up the ranks as he faces former flyweight champ Deiveson Figueiredo.
Additionally, UFC 332 includes a lightweight contest between King Green and Esteban Ribovics, while former two-division KSW champion Roberto Soldic makes his octagon debut against knockout artist Khaos Williams.
The UFC 332 main card opens up in the middleweight division as Ateba Gautier faces his toughest test to date in Roman Kopylov.
Watch the UFC 332 watch party in the video above at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT, starting with the featured preliminary contest between Imanol Rodriguez and Alden Coria.
Anthony Wint wasn't getting paid by the hour at UFC 332.
The highly-touted Contender Series prospect needed just 23 seconds to overwhelm and finish newcomer Lucas Armand in the opening round to score his second win inside the octagon.
As soon as the fighters were released from their corners, Wint and Armand were ready to throw down as the punches came quick to start the fight. It didn't take long, however, for Wint to push Armand against the cage and then the heavyweights were just trading bombs.
But Wint's power advantage was evident as he was just swinging hammers until Armand finally just wilted from the pressure and crumbled to the canvas.
The fight was stopped immediately with Wint moving to 2-0 in the octagon and 9-0 in his young career. Afterwards, he had a callout ready and Wint, who played in one NFL game with the Jets, is looking to capitalize on an opponent who just sparked Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson in the UFC.
“It feels great,†Wint said about his win. “He was going to have to kill me. I don't waste no time. I really, really want to fight in 40 days.
“Sean Sharaf … I dare you to put it all on black again. I dare you to come take my ‘O.'â€â€
Sharaf, who is now 1-2 in the UFC, shocked the world on his own when he scored a brutal 12-second knockout over Steveson. Now he's become the target for other heavyweights including one of the top prospects in the division.
Johnny Walker's UFC 332 heavyweight debut has his fellow fighters dreaming big.
In his past appearances at 205 pounds, Walker showed flashes of star power, winning over fans with his incredible knockouts and larger-than-life personality. Walker officially made the move to heavyweight Saturday and he didn't disappoint, needing less than a round to score a hellacious knee knockout over Mick Parkin.
Afterwards, Walker boasted that the best is yet to come in his new weight class and that no one in the heavyweight division can fight like him. Fighters reaction on social media shared his enthusiasm.
Former UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad suggested that Alex Pereira could be next for Walker, writing, “I've seen enough, give me Walker vs. Poatan.†Longtime veteran Renato Moicano joined in, writing that the UFC should “give Johnny Walker the belt already!â€
Check out more social media reactions from the pros below.