Stepping into the cage is a trial for any martial artist, but doing so against a larger opponent makes the trial even more difficult. For Australia’s Reece “Lightning” McLaren (9-5), he has been doing so his entire career.
The Filipino-Australian, who made his professional debut in 2010, initially experienced great success. Competing as a bantamweight, he racked up seven wins before joining ONE Championship in December 2015, before defeating back-to-back contenders in the Philippines’ Mark Striegl and Tajikistan’s Muin Gafurov to earn a title shot at the ONE Bantamweight World Championship.
Though he came up short in his quest for the gold, losing a razor-thin split decision to current titleholder Bibiano “The Flash” Fernandes in December 2016, he expected to get back into title contention immediately by running through the competition once more.