Reece “Lightning” McLaren has been on a tear in ONE Championship’s bantamweight division.
Little was known about McLaren when he made his ONE Championship debut last December at the SM Mall of Asia Arena. He however made sure to leave a mark as he was able to submit the highly-favored Mark Striegl in the third round that stunned the Manila crowd. He then followed it up with a dominant decision win against previously unbeaten Muin Gafurov five months later.
After turning heads and making his name, 25-year-old Reece McLaren (19-3) will take on the biggest challenge of his young career exactly a year after making his ONE Championship debut, facing ONE Bantamweight World Champion Bibiano Fernandes (19-3) on Friday, December 2 at te SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Even if he is going in as the underdog heading into the bout, he does not see himself winning via an “upset.” For him, the word upset is meant for people who don’t believe that they have a shot at winning.
“I find no difference between being the favorite or the underdog. Everyone loves the underdog story and they love it when he wins, so give me that label and I’ll run with it,” said McLaren.
“An upset to me is the man who is not meant to win, wins.”
And McLaren knows about turning the odds upside down. Earlier this month, fellow countryman Eduard “The Landslide” Folayang was able to shock the world after knocking out living MMA legend Shinya Aoki to win the ONE Lightweight World Championship. The Filipino-Australian is looking to replicate Folayang’s performance, this time in front of his hometown crowd.
“I saw the Eduard [Folayang] fight and I drew a lot of inspiration from it. Another fellow Filipino winning a world title shows that it can be done,” he shared.
“Watching the fight was super exciting. I was on the edge of my seat. It was such a massive opportunity for him and to see him walk away with the victory was just so inspirational.”
The 25-year-old wrestler then gave a stern warning to one of the top bantamweights in the world today.
“I’m confident I can get this win because I have Australia and the Philippines supporting me,” he closed.
“Bibiano, it is such an honor to be facing you. I respect you a lot, but this is going to be a changing of the guard.”
