Tim “The Dirty Bird” Means is fighting on UFC on Fuel: Sanchez vs. Ellenberger as an afterthought by a fortunate twist of fate. His opponent, Bernardo Magalhaes, was originally set to fight Yoislandy Izquierdo, if it weren’t for contractual issues on the part of Izquierdo with his former promotion Championship Fighting Alliance.
By being a lightweight champion in one of the longest running MMA promotions, the King of the Cage, and racking a solid 16-3 record with 12 knockout and three submission victories, Means was an easy choice as a substitute and debuting UFC fighter.
Tomorrow, Means will make the most of the opportunity to prove that not only former Strikeforce, WEC and, yes, Pride FC champions and fighters can have an impressive run in MMA’s crème dela crème organization. “Incidentally,” he will prove this point, along with five other fighters debuting tomorrow in the UFC preliminaries—his opponent Magalhaes, lightweights Anton Kuivanen and Justin Salas, and middleweights Buddy Roberts and Sean Loeffler.
Tomorrow night, Means will attempt to show Cage Fighting Championship king Magalhaes (11-1) that a KOTC champion can make waves inside the octagon and prove that a champion like him who holds titles (concurrently lightweight and junior welterweight!) outside of the other Big Three can also compete in the deep waters of the UFC.
The double titleholder is set to start a UFC career that will hopefully prove more remarkable than the two UFC fighters who have beaten him before, Spencer Fisher and Luke Caudillo.
As a debuting late replacement, Means has everything to gain with a win tomorrow with the added service of earning more respect for champions of other less known promotions.
Not every fighter gets the chance to fight in international MMA’s preeminent organization. For his UFC debut, expect Means to prove that he’s lean, mean and means serious MMA business.
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