ONE Championship: Reece McLaren wants interim title with Demetrious Johnson "holding up the division"

Flyweight MMA contender Reece McLaren wants ONE Championship to introduce an interim title if Demetrious Johnson keeps "holding up the division." The legendary 'Mighty Mouse' has not fought since retaining his belt a year ago in Denver, after which he said he may retire.

The 37-year-old American has failed to clarify his future since but has recently expressed interest in a boxing crossover against Manny Pacquiao.

Australia's McLaren, 32, fought on the same card as former UFC champ Johnson in the US last May. He finally returned with a split decision win over Hu Yong at last Saturday's ONE Fight Night 22 card and fired some shots the champion's way.

"I think DJ is calling his shots. It's looking like he wants to box. If you’re gonna go box, man, just don’t hold up the division. Let’s open up an interim belt with myself and someone headlining that. I feel I've earned my spot at a championship that has eluded me for so long."

He added:

"If you do your history, I was meant to fight for that thing back in 2018. Adriano [Moraes] got injured. I should have been fighting then for the interim belt had they not given that away cheaply to Geje [Eustaqio] and Kairat Akhmetov, who fought five rounds."

The No 4-ranked McLaren's victory over Hu saw him bounce back from a decision loss in Denver to Akhmetov, who tested positive for a banned substance two weeks later and was suspended for six months.

Whether it's for an interim title or not, 'Lightning' would love to run it back with 'The Kazakh. He told Sportskeeda:

"If Kairat wants to clean his act let’s go again and do it over five rounds. I was definitely starting to push back in the that third round. If I had another two rounds, I would have swayed the judges my way, definitely."

He added:

"I would like pre-, during- and post-fight drug tests. Test us on the day. I'm excited, man. I want someone to test me. I clean that cup. I'm the cleanest athlete in MMA."

McLaren (17-9) was emotional backstage after his victory and struggled to hold back tears when describing his frustrations over the past 12 months.

Reece McLaren gets pumped up during Dom Lau's ring introduction.

He considered retirement after his pleas to matchmakers went unanswered, despite signing a new contract last summer. However, he has been rejuvenated since shifting his training camp to Queensland's CMBT Training Centre under coach Miles Muecke.

"I’m quite overwhelmed. It’s been a long, long process to get here. There was pondering of retirement. There was pondering of, 'What the hell am I doing?' But I'm here doing something right. There are a lot of things that have happened since the last one. I am with just an amazing team, an amazing coach who is absolutely pushing the best out of me."

He added:

"It’s a long time not to have fought. There was a bit of ring rust. I had to push that out. A lot of fine tuning. I truly believe that this is just a mere scratch of what my potential is, with what and where I am in my life."

He concluded:

"Please give me a quick turnaround, not 364 days. I’m two days short of a year or something silly."