CR Exclusive Interview with Tim Means!

Photo by MMAjunkie.com

Tim “The Dirty Bird” Means may not be a name that you recognize now but he will become a household name pretty soon. Tim Means is a large 28-year-old lightweight with a very impressive career record of 17-3-1, with 12 of those wins coming by TKO/KO. He towers over most of his opponents being 6’2” and 155 pounds. He holds wins over Strikeforce vet Bobby Green, TUF alum Cody Pfister, and submission specialist Bernardo Magalhaes.

Means was very gracious in having a quick interview with us, and it is always great to let people know about MMA up and comers.

Means' next opponent is Justin Salas who is a seasoned wrestler, but Means doesn’t seem to worry about that at all as we asked if he changed anything for Salas.

“Training has been going great! Nothing different (to prepare for Justin), just putting in work!” Confidence is key in becoming a successful mixed martial artist.

We asked how he would vision his fight going, but it didn’t surprise us with his answer, we agree with his vision. “Stuffing (Justin’s) takedowns and getting my hand raised in the end!”

His confidence is apparent when we asked what Justin’s weaknesses were, “We are about to find out (Justin’s weaknesses)!” But he was also honest in his strengths, “(Justin’s strengths are) wrestling and cardio.”

In Means’ debut, he took a fight on short notice against Bernardo Magalhaes, replacing Yoislandy Izquierdo, who had to pull out due to contractual issues.

Means talks about his debut, “I stayed patient and stuck to the game plan. Bernardo’s “jits” was very slick and I didn't want to turn it into a ground fight!” He dominated the fight by landing the bigger shots and being the busier striker, hurting Magalhaes several times.

Means’ focus is good as we asked him if there were anyone he would like to fight next, “No, I just want to win this fight!”

One of the questions that we always like to ask fighters is what accomplishment means the most, and why? His answer was simple and true, “This win will mean the most. Justin is very tough!”

There was one last thing that I had to ask. What in the world does his nickname, “The Dirty Bird”, mean? “I had an amateur fight and I dyed my hair red and a teammate said I looked like a dirty bird. It stuck!”

Thanks again to Tim Means for doing this interview with us! Go follow him on Twitter @MeansTim!