Aussie firebrand Reece McLaren says Jarred Brooks has one huge disadvantage at ONE Fight Night 26: “His height”
Reece McLaren was perfectly concise when he described Jarred Brooks' most glaring weakness against him.
In an interview with Sportskeeda MMA, McLaren said Brooks is far too small to be effective against him in their flyweight MMA showdown on the stacked ONE Fight Night 26 card on Dec. 6 at the historic Lumpinee Stadium.
McLaren will welcome Brooks to the flyweight MMA division in the ONE interim strawweight MMA world champion's bid at two-division supremacy.
The Australian star wondered how Brooks could close the distance and eliminate the five-inch reach disadvantage when they square off in Bangkok.
Reece McLaren said:
"His height. Height and reach, for sure."
The 5-foot-6 McLaren is three inches taller than Brooks, and that range could play a factor in the match since the American star heavily relies on his grappling to assert his strength against his opponents.
Although McLaren has a BJJ base, he's made strides in his striking after briefly training with Australian Muay Thai legend John Wayne Parr. McLaren's added weapon in his arsenal could be crucial in his matchup against Brooks.
Nevertheless, the former ONE strawweight MMA king has done well against pure strikers in his tenure at ONE Championship.
Brooks is 5-1 in his MMA matches in ONE Championship, with wins over famed strikers Lito Adiwang and reigning ONE strawweight MMA world champion Joshua Pacio.
ONE Fight Night 26 is ONE Championship's final Amazon card of the year and is available live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.
Reece McLaren has one request for Jarred Brooks ahead of ONE Fight Night 26
Reece McLaren is arguably one of the most laidback stars in ONE Championship, but there are still a few things that miff 'Lightning'.
In the same interview with Sportskeeda MMA, McLaren requested Jarred Brooks to hold off on the rapping to hype up their ONE Fight Night 26 match.
Brooks has shown his skills on the microphone both in the spoken and lyrical sense, and McLaren said he would retaliate with his bars if 'The Monkey God' does go with his rhymes ahead of the card:
"Please don't rap. We'll see if he does come up or anything, and we'll have rebuttals for it. We'll have some fun."