China’s Yong wants to wow fans by stopping McLaren at ONE Championship bout to earn potential title shot
- Yong in good form with three victories on the bounce and two coming inside first round
- Hopes ‘heavy punches and great physical strength and fitness’ will see him past Australian opponent
Hu Yong will be flying the flag for China at ONE Fight Night 22 next week in his bout against Reece McLaren at Lumpinee Stadium and the 28-year-old said he is out to entertain the fans in Bangkok.
Yong is a fast starter who has won his last three, with two of those victories coming inside a round, and plans to apply some early pressure to McLaren.
“I don’t want to have a boring fight, so I like to fight early and directly,” he said. “I like to fight like a warrior. I enjoy the feeling of a firefight. It gets me excited, and that’s why I do so well at the beginning of fights.”
His opponent is a BJJ black belt who challenged for the bantamweight title back in 2016. Both men are now competing at flyweight with McLaren ranked at #4 and Yong sitting at #5. If Yong wins, he will be in a position to start talking about title shots.
McLaren is renowned for his submission skills but the Chinese fighter said he is ready.
“He’s a strong grappler,” Yong said of his upcoming opponent. “I’ve prepared for a lot of avoiding getting it to the ground.