LAS VEGAS – Tim Means is pleading ignorance for the illegal knees that brought about a bizarre no-contest in Friday’s UFC 207 curtain-jerker.

Means (26-7-1 MMA, 8-4 UFC) and fellow welterweight Alex Oliveira (16-3-1 MMA, 5-2 UFC) were off to an entertaining start in the UFC Fight Pass-streamed preliminary-card bout at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. However, when Means delivered some knees in the first round that left Oliveira dazed and unable to continue, things got really bizarre.

Means immediately protested the stoppage and was adamant that the blows were legal despite Oliveira having a knee on the mat and thus being a downed opponent. UFC Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner even joined the broadcast booth and initially said the knees were legal before backtracking.

Officials then confirmed the blows are illegal, according to the Unified Rules of MMA. But despite Means intentionally delivering the knees because he incorrectly thought they were legal, the bout was declared a no-contest rather than a disqualification (Oliveira plans to appeal).

After the fight, Means said he simply misinterpreted the concept of a three-point stance and what constituted a downed opponent.

“I didn’t come to break some rules,” he said. “I came to win violently.”

But while he had reporters’ attention, he also sounded off on the difficulty of fighters to market themselves, and he also blasted the media collectively.

“It’s easy for the media to sit there and write and type and take all this work – we bust our ass, and I’m talking about all of the fighters,” he said. “We bust our ass. And the five minutes or two minutes or 45 seconds or whatever we’re in there for, you guys break it down and tear us down in just a couple seconds.

“We just bust our ass to get in there for you guys to have a story to write and for everyone here to have a job. I have a job. The bosses have a job. And you guys tear us down in a matter of seconds. We’ve worked weeks and months – we’ve worked through the holidays – for you to sit there and pretty much degrade us and put us down. We bust our ass, and we look for respect. We want some respect. The fighters work their ass off for you guys to put so little of an effort to a write-up to tear down their work.”

Check out the full video above.

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