Don’t look now, but at 38-years of age, Tim Means is ripping through the welterweight division. A winner of three straight and four of his last five, Means is proving that age is just a number. The reward he reaps for such a run is a highly anticipated contest with fan favorite Kevin Holland.
While Means himself has never been much of a trash talker, he likes the fact that Holland’s ability to do so should draw more eyes to this fight.
“I think he just talks real well. He’s able to sell fights off his charisma,” Means said. “He uses his mouth to sell a lot of tickets for himself.”
But it’s not just the loud mouth that sells Holland’s fights. It’s also not just the loud mouth that has Means excited for this throw down. The forward style and ability to bring a bonus winning style to all fights makes it one that Means looks forward to.
“He’s a guy that shows up and doesn’t really care where the fight goes. He’s a guy that will be in there fighting the entire time,” he said. “He’s a guy that you definitely don’t have to go find to fight. This stylistic match-up makes for a real fun fight for the fans.”
Of course, with Kevin Holland’s documented issues with defensive grappling, it begs the question – why just stand with him? After all, Means was a high school wrestler himself and now coaches the same wrestling team that he was a part of along side his wife (professional fighter Brenda Gonzales-Means).
The answer comes from all the emotions in the fight. While he might think about being well-rounded, he recognizes that he’s got that fighting spirit inside of himself.
“It’s all the emotions in the fight. You say you’d like to stick to a game plan and this and that, but the fighter comes out of you. It just happens,” Means shares. “My goal in my last five fights has been to be well-rounded. If I want to only box, I need to go over to Showtime… Where the fight takes me, I want to be able to have an answer.”
Regardless of where the fight goes, this is not one that people want to miss. You can catch this fight at part of the ESPN main card of UFC Austin this Saturday.
You can hear the entire audio of this interview at 1:59.
