Kevin Holland has a wily veteran to contend with at UFC Austin this Saturday, in the form of Tim “The Dirty Bird” Means.
“I’m loving it. Tim Means is an OG, he’s a veteran, what 45 fights? Close to 50. Dude’s on point, man,” Holland (22-7, 1NC) said of the match-up during this week’s media day. “Looking forward to it.”
Holland admits that Means has been around so long, he’s a fan of “The Dirty Bird” as well, “but that being said, we put all that to the side, and we go to work. Because it’s Tim Means, and you gotta mean business when you’re in there with Tim Means.”
The former middleweight, entering his second bout at 170 in the UFC, simply doesn’t see how Means wins on Saturday. If it’s a war, it goes badly for Means, if it’s technical, it goes badly for Means, in Holland’s opinion.
“There’s no war there. If Tim looks to have a war, he gets clipped and he gets knocked out. I hate to be like that, but that’s how it is,” Holland exclaimed. “If Tim looks to be technical and he looks to be smart, he gets out-pointed and he gets outclassed. If Tim looks to wrestle, well f*ck, you know what I mean? I’ve been working the wrestling for over a year now, and I believe if I work on anything for over a year, it’s a f*cking problem. So I don’t know what the f*ck Dominick Cruz was in here talking about, but it’s going to be a f*cking problem.”
Cruz, the former UFC bantamweight champion, has rubbed a number of fighters the wrong way with his commentary. Last year, he also got into something of a spat with broadcast partner Daniel Cormier. Count Holland among those who are not fans of Cruz in the broadcast booth.
“He asked me something about my wrestling, I don’t like the way he asked it,” Holland explained. “I don’t like that guy, bro. Saying that sh*t. Dude bugs me.”
“He always has something to say about my sh*t. F*cking Dominick.”
While Holland doesn’t like Cruz on the mic, however, he remains a fan of the man in the cage. “He’s still an OG though. That being said, I like the way he fights, just when he commentates, I hate how he commentates my fights. But I love when he fights. His movement’s f*cking crazy.”
