McLaren burst into the ONE Championship scene in 2015, and has since registered two highly impressive victories over top caliber opponents, earning him a shot against bantamweight world champion Bibiano "The Flash" Fernandes.
McLaren (9-3) is set to challenge Fernandes (19-3) in the co-main event of ONE: Age of Domination on December 2 at the Mall of Asia Arena.
He will be the underdog against Fernandes, but McLaren is drawing inspiration from the shock victory of Folayang over Japanese MMA legend Shinya Aoki two weeks ago, which gave "Landslide" the ONE Lightweight World Championship.
"I saw Eduard's fight, and I drew a lot of inspiration from it. Another fellow Filipino winning a world title shows that it can be done," said McLaren.
"Watching the fight was super exciting," he added. "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."
Fernandes will bring an 11-fight winning streak into the fight, and the Brazilian star is making the fifth defense of his ONE Championship belt. McLaren, however, is unfazed by his underdog status.
"Being labeled as the favorite or the underdog doesn't really matter to me," he said. "I'm going to put a hundred percent into the work, and I hope it shows."
McLaren began his ONE Championship career with an upset victory Filipino warrior and fan-favorite Mark Striegl, and followed up that win over top Tajikistan prospect Muin Gafurov.
"I feel no difference between being the favorite or the underdog," he said. "Everyone loves the underdog story and they love it when he wins, so give me that label and I'll run with it."
"An upset to me is the man who is not meant to win, wins."
McLaren is confident that he can pull off a third consecutive upset win.
"I have Australia and the Philippines supporting me," he said. "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."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
