Dirty Bird, clean moves: the technique of Tim Means
Tim Means' career has been full of sharp technique and fascinating fights, and now it's coming to an end. Breaking down the slick moves of one of MMA's great, unheralded craftsmen.
Time is undefeated.
After 40 years on earth, 20 of which were spent competing in the cage, amassing a record of 51 fights, Tim Means is no longer able to keep up with the young guns. Last weekend, in front of some 100 people at the UFC Apex, he was brutally knocked out by Uroš Medić. There can be no doubt: the Dirty Bird has entered the final stages of a long and vastly underappreciated career.
Means has been one of my favorite fighters to watch for a long time. He is the definition of a great journeyman, the kind of guy made to fill out undercards and put up-and-comers to the test. He has never been ranked. Hell, he hasn’t been in a main event since his last pre-UFC fight, over 12 years ago now. And most of the really notable fighters he faced beat him. But Tim Means was very good for a very, very long time.
When Means finally retires, I fear the MMA world at large will forget about him. Such is the fate of journeymen, even the best ones. But Means has given me a lot to remember, and fondly. So let’s take a few minutes to look back at the Dirty Bird’s career, and shine a little light on some of this unheralded craftsman’s incredible body of work.
The killer clinch
Tim Means is a superbly well-rounded striker, in a way that few MMA fighters are. Not only is he equally capable going forwards or backwards, but he has the skills to compete at any range. Indeed, one of the most impressive thing about Means is his ability to blend ranges together, seamlessly transitioning from long range into the pocket, and from there into the clinch.
That flexibility gave Means a longevity that most of his peers couldn’t match, even the truly elite fighters who beat him on their way to the top. Case in point: our first example is less than three years old. This is Means chewing up Nicolas Dalby back in June of 2021.
Immediately you see the transitioning I mentioned above. Means starts off with a head kick, timing Dalby’s rhythm and (though you can’t really see it from this angle) managing to slap Dalby across the face with his instep. As Dalby tries to reset, Means flashes the jab to push him back. Dalby collides with the fence and ends up with his feet completely square. This tells Tim that he doesn’t have to worry about running into any jabs, and so he confidently steps into the pocket, daring Dalby to throw.
Dalby fires a left hook, and that’s the bridge Means needs. He rolls under the punch and comes straight back with a beautiful uppercut to the solar plexus and—just like that—now we’re clinch fighting.
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