Tim Means had to know he was in for a war with Mike Perry but in the end he just had the better artillery.
The veteran welterweight did his best to avoid engaging too many wild exchanges while displaying a strong technical kickboxing offense that left Perry with a busted nose and blood streaming down his face. In the end, Means earned a unanimous decision victory with the judges scoring the fight 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 in his favor.
“I did my best to cut him up,” Means said following the win. “I did my best to hurt him but he’s a tough ass dude. He got my attention and I wanted to get my hand raised.”
In a surprising move to start the fight, Perry actually opted to look for a takedown, which may have caught Means off guard in what was expected to be a battle between two hard-hitting strikers. Perry nearly latched onto a rear-naked choke but Means survived before working his way back to the feet.
While he had to be wary of Perry’s knockout power, Means began walking him down while establishing a stiff jab and then looking to connect with every combination. Means’ ability to throw straight punches down the middle gave Perry fits as his head was constantly snapping back whenever he got caught moving forward.
Just when it looked like Means was taking over, Perry plowed ahead and cracked “The Dirty Bird” with a clubbing right hand. Means was wobbled momentarily but he recovered quickly to once again rely on his accurate striking and then move out of the way of Perry’s attempted haymakers in return.
With just over two minutes remaining, Means and Perry decided to just start trading heavy leather with both fighters just blasting away with neither one giving an inch. Means eventually abandoned the slugfest and relied on those same straight punches that saw Perry leave the octagon with his nose twisted and several cuts from the punishment he endured.
The win moves Means to 3-1 in his past four fights as he continues to prove he’s a problem for anybody in the welterweight division. As for Perry, he failed to make weight on Friday and then suffered a loss on Saturday as he falls to 7-7 overall in the UFC.
