Reece “Lightning” McLaren will have his eyes on the prize when he steps onto the ONE Championship stage for the first time this year.
The fifth-ranked Filipino-Australian flyweight looks to grind his way back into World Title contention as he takes on Aleksi “The Giant” Toivonen in the co-main event of ONE: Reign of Dynasties on October 9.
After losing to two of the division’s top stars in Danny “The King” Kingad and Kairat “The Kazakh” Akhmetov in close contests, the 29-year-old rebounded with a quick submission win over Gurdarshan “Saint Lion” Mangat to close out 2019.
Now he’s looking to move further up the rankings with a decisive win over the impressive Toivonen.
“I just think that any win at the moment for anyone will keep pushing us up the rankings,” McLaren told ONEFC.com.
“Honestly, you go back to a year ago and I was slated to fight for the belt, so I believe I’m one or two wins away from having my name there as a replacement if Demetrious or Moraes get hurt.”
But he knows he will have a massive challenge at hand when he takes on “The Giant” next week.
Toivonen will come in unbeaten in seven matches, six of which he won by submission. He made his debut in July of last year when he stopped Akihiro “Superjap” Fujisawa via rear-naked choke in the first round.
An ACL injury months later sidelined Toivonen for the rest of the year, and the COVID-19 pandemic pushed back his return back even further. Now that he’s fully healthy, though, McLaren knows he can’t be complacent.
“He looks strong and he looks like he takes the back really well,” McLaren said.
“He grapples very well. Being a European champion — that’s a great achievement. I know the grappling circuit in Europe is very high-level. They get all the big guns going to the Europeans, so that means he’s a very good grappler.”
McLaren didn’t want to predict an outcome for the match, but he promised it will be an exciting one.
“I don’t like to predict because everyone sounds cocky in predictions,” McLaren said.
“So, all I can say is it’s going to be an exciting match, and tune in.”
Catch ONE: REIGN OF DYNASTIES next Friday, October 9. Watch the show on One Sports or One Sports+ at 8:30 p.m. Philippine Standard Time (PHT) or at the ONE Super App.
TV5 will also air the event on a next-day delay at 11 p.m. PHT on Saturday, October 10.
Read More From ONE Championship:
Undefeated Toivonen Vows To Submit McLaren In Long-Awaited Return
McLaren Says He’s Made ‘Massive Gains’ Ahead Of Toivonen Clash
