After testing leg injury, Tim Means wants UFC DC finish of Alves to lead to New Mexico spot

MMA News

After testing leg injury, Tim Means wants UFC DC finish of Alves to lead to New Mexico spot

WASHINGTON – Tim Means beat Thiago Alves with a first-round submission Saturday to close out the preliminary card at UFC on ESPN 7 in Washington, D.C.

Take a look inside the fight with Means, who now has won two of his past three fights.

Result: Tim Means def. Thiago Alves via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 2:38
Updated records: Means (29-11-1 MMA, 11-8 UFC), Alves (23-15 MMA, 15-12 UFC)
Key stat: Of Means’ 29 career wins, 24 are finishes. But Saturday’s was just his fifth by submission.

Means on the fight’s key moment

“Knowing how heavy a kicker Thiago is, I was expecting him to come in and chop my legs and I wanted to put my injury to the test right away to get that confidence back. With this sport, you have to either be all in or get out, so I wanted to prove to myself I was still all in there. He hit me with those body kicks and I had to take a second to breathe and refocus and let the fight carry on. The further a fight goes, the better I get generally – so stay calm and rely on what you learn in practice.”

Means on tough recent losses

“Even in my close losses, I was right in those fights – they’ve been fun fights. I’m happy to get my hand raised and get the ‘W,’ especially against a tough guy like Alves. I wanted to get a fight in before the end of the year and just put it into my head mentally that I deserve to be here and belong here. Even in my last loss, when I broke my leg, I was in that fight. It was very competitive. So getting a win is icing on the cake heading into the holidays.”

Means on what he wants next

“This sport is a chess match. It can go either way, and you have to crush someone’s dreams or get yours crushed – that’s why we love it. I really want on that Rio Rancho, (N.M.), card. I’m not ranked, but I’m one of the most dangerous dudes in this division by far. There’s too many guys to call one individual out, but I’ll fight whoever the put in front of me and the UFC knows that.”

To hear more from Means, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.

After testing leg injury, Tim Means wants UFC DC finish of Alves to lead to New Mexico spot