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Tim Means has been a UFC mainstay for years now. He's had a lengthy career and has fought several notable names in the promotion, including Kevin Holland, Belal Muhammad and even BKFC star Mike Perry. However, there's one fighter in particular who once left him awestruck, and the pair never actually fought.
Two years ago, Tim Means was scheduled to face Mike Perry in a bout. While their fight was marred by controversy due to a botched weight cut on 'Platinum's' part, Means outlined coming across a welterweight at the UFC Performance Institute, who stunned him with his sheer physical size, as his biggest takeaway.
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In an exclusive interview with Andrew Whitelaw, Tim Means touched on his astonishment after meeting unbeaten 170-pound sensation, Shavkat Rakhmonov. In fact, his encounter was so surprising that he mistook 'The Nomad' for a light heavyweight, saying:
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"He's a big guy. I was cutting weight with him over in PI few years back. I think when I fought, Mike Perry actually. I thought he was a light heavyweight. When he weighed in our weight, I was like, 'Woah!'...He just looked two weight classes above me. He is a big guy."
Rakhmonov is a fighter who many have pegged as a future welterweight title challenger or champion. But he is yet to fight anyone since submitting Geoff Neal in round three back in March. Some even expect the Kazakh phenom to one day move up to the UFC middleweight division, given his size.
It might be shocking to some to learn that Rakhmonov has never fought at middleweight, and has gone his entire career as a middleweight.
What is Tim Means' losing streak?
Unfortunately, for Tim Means, he is not on the best run of form. He is currently on a three-fight losing streak, and will likely be fighting to retain his spot on the roster when he takes on André Fialho this Saturday at UFC Fight Night 228. A fourth straight loss could prove disastrous.
This rough patch consists of losses to Alex Morono, Max Griffin and Kevin Holland, with two of those defeats coming by way of submission.
