Jarred Brooks begins ‘climbing Everest’ in bid for ONE Championship flyweight title with Reece McLaren matchup

Jarred Brooks will begin his bid to become a two-division champion in ONE Championship when he takes on Reece McLaren next month at ONE Fight Night 27.
The MMA bout on December 7 at Lumpinee Stadium will mark Brooks’ first at flyweight in the Asia-based martial arts promotion, where he holds the interim strawweight title.
No 4-ranked McLaren of Australia will aim to crash the party, however, with the winner likely to face former flyweight king Adriano Moares for the vacant divisional title.
The legendary Demetrious Johnson gave up the belt in September when he announced his retirement at ONE 168 in Denver, with Moraes staking an early claim by submitting No 3-ranked Danny Kingad last weekend.
“Life is like Everest – hard to climb, but if you persevere, you’ll see the world from a height you once thought unreachable,” Brooks said. 
“I am trying to do what my mind tells me what to do, and that is to test myself against the best in the world at 135lbs. 
“My mind tells me I can win another world championship. God willing, I will follow through on my climb.”
Former UFC star Brooks previously held the undisputed strawweight title in ONE, but lost it on a disqualification against Filipino rival Joshua Pacio at ONE 166 in Qatar in March. He went on to submit Gustavo Balart at ONE Fight Night 24 and become interim champ in August.
ONE Fight Night 26 will be headlined by Christian Lee’s long-awaited return in a lightweight MMA title defence against Alibeg Rasulov.
A high stakes bantamweight kickboxing fight between former champ Petchtanong Petchfergus and Muay Thai standout Nabil Anane was also added to the card on Wednesday.
In another bout announced this week, former lightweight MMA champion Shinya Aoki will welcome BJJ standout Cole Abate to ONE in a submission grappling contest.
Brazil’s Mayssa Bastos and American former champ Danielle Kelly will also rematch for the atomweight grappling title.