WATCH: Reece McLaren’s surgical elbow shot busts open Jarred Brooks, effectively turns tide of ONE Fight Night 26 showdown

Veteran Australian fighter Reece McLaren came in clutch to come away with a split decision victory over American Jarred Brooks in their match last week. A surgical elbow he landed to the forehead of his opponent in the third ended up swinging the tide in his favor.

The crucial elbow came early in the third frame of their flyweight MMA match at ONE Fight Night 26: Lee vs. Rasulov on Dec. 6 at the Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, with the match still pretty much even.

'Lightning' uncorked a straight right elbow that left 'The Monkey God' bloodied as the round wore on. McLaren took advantage of the situation, continuing to target the forehead of Brooks and halting the latter's ability to go full throttle for a late charge.

ONE Championship spotlighted the moment McLaren scored the telling hit against Brooks in an Instagram post.

Check out the video below:

The win at ONE Fight Night 26 was the second straight for Reece McLaren, who is on a mission to secure a shot at the currently vacant ONE flyweight MMA belt.

Brooks, meanwhile, saw his debut flyweight match spoiled with the defeat. The reigning interim strawweight world champion moved up a division higher for his match against McLaren to start his push at becoming a double world champion.

The full replay of ONE Fight Night 26 is available on demand to Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.

Reece McLaren wants a showdown with former flyweight king Adriano Moraes

Reece McLaren wants a shot at the vacant flyweight gold following his victory at ONE Fight Night 26 on Dec. 6. If given the opportunity, he hopes to face former divisional king Adriano Moraes for the vacant strap.

The CMBT Training Centre standout made this known in a highly charged video post on Instagram, which ONE Championship shared following McLaren's split decision victory over Jarred Brooks last week.

McLaren said:

"Oh yeah, I want Adriano. He said he was gonna say my name and he didn't. So I'm gonna say yours m***********! I want you Adriano."

Reece McLaren has been competing in ONE since 2015 and has yet to vie for the flyweight gold. He, however, challenged for the bantamweight world title in 2016 against then-world champion Bibiano Fernandes and nearly pulled off a win.