Reece “Lightning” McLaren

Reece McLaren grew up in a single-mother household on Christmas Island, an Australian territory off the coast of Indonesia.

Due to his family’s difficult financial situation, they couldn’t afford his school fees, so McLaren was forced to work from a young age to pay his own way.

At one of those jobs, he discovered martial arts through a coworker, and he was hooked instantly. After his family settled in Queensland, McLaren continued his training despite having to drive several hours to get to the gym.

All of his sacrifices paid off, however, when “Lightning” earned a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and also claimed the Eternal MMA and XFL Bantamweight Championships before making his ONE Championship debut.

He emerged on the global stage in perfect fashion, scoring win after win to get a shot at then-reigning ONE Bantamweight MMA World Champion Bibiano Fernandes. McLaren gave the living legend an incredibly tough test but narrowly missed out on gold via split decision.

McLaren has since dropped down to flyweight, where he has remained in the top-five rankings and continues to hunt for his shot at another divisional World Title.