"I've paid my dues" - Veteran Reece McLaren says he earned a title shot after impressive win over young lion Hu Yong

Former ONE world title challenger and current fourth-ranked ONE flyweight MMA contender 'Lightning' Reece McLaren of Australia believes he may have just punched his ticket to a highly coveted title shot against reigning king 'Mighty Mouse' Demetrious Johnson.

McLaren has long lobbied for a shot at the ONE Championship gold, and feels he has been on the wrong end of some pretty bad decisions. However, his latest victory last weekend should be enough to sway him toward a showdown with 'Mighty Mouse', according to McLaren himself.

Speaking in his official post-fight interview backstage, McLaren talked about his moment.

'Lightning' said:

"It's been a long run. It's been a long journey, man. I feel like I've paid my dues."

McLaren scored an impressive split decision victory on the judges' scorecards over fiery Chinese star 'Wolf Warrior' Hu Yong at ONE Fight Night 22: Sundell vs. Diachkova on Prime Video. The event took place live from the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, last Saturday, May 4th.

Fans in the United States and Canada can catch all the action via replay on-demand, absolutely free on Amazon Prime Video.

Reece McLaren believes he beat Hu Yong the hard way: "There's no luck tonight"

'Lightning' Reece McLaren is proud of the effort that he put in against Hu Yong. But he admits he was worried about getting the wrong end of the stick on the judges' scorecards once again.

Thankfully, the Australian star says that his fortunes have finally turned around. However, he wants to maintain that it's because of old-fashioned hard work that got him the win.

He told ONE:

"Yeah, I was very surprised if it even goes like that. Not again, please not again. I think it's time that my luck swayed, right. There's no luck tonight. I feel like definitely, that was, I claim victory in my life."