Tim Means Says He Thought His Knees Were Legal at UFC 207

Tim Means spoke with MMAjunkie ahead of his fight with Alex Oliveira at UFC Fight Night 106. The highlights are below:

On the illegal knees he hit Oliveira with at UFC 207: “I don’t know how they called it accidental. I misconstrued the rules when we were breaking them down in the back (before our first fight), and we have to have this three points of contact, hand down and all that. … I saw his hands up, I saw him trying to defend my knee, and he thought a knee was coming, as well. When I got in the back, there were fighters who also were confused on it. There was a big gray area. I’d take more responsibility on myself and call myself a dumbass if it was only me who thought that the knee was legal. But there was a whole bunch of confusion behind it. … I didn’t try to hurt him or cheat him in any way, but I did try to take him out.”

On being willing to take a DQ loss: “If we’re following the rules, we’re following the rules. Accidental? They’re playing with my intelligence. I threw the knee on purpose because I thought it was completely legal, so give the dude the DQ (win).”

On their fight at UFC Fight Night 106: “We’re going to start off where we left off. It was a fight he was losing. He was supposed to outwrestle me and outgrapple me, and it wasn’t working for him. We grabbed ahold of each other, and I was the stronger fighter. I don’t know how he expects to win in front of his friends and family … I expect to put him down in front of his friends and family…There was more in our three-minute fight than in the five-round championship fight (between Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson at UFC 209) the other night. I thought a lot went down. I was winning the wrestling and the grappling exchanges, and I’m going to do just that again.”