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Tuesday, Jun 14, 2016

Tim Means Credits UFC’s Jeff Novitzky For Helping Flag Tainted Supplement, Hoping to Avoid “Boring Wrestler” in Return

Tim Means (photo via UFC.com)

By Kelsey Mowatt

Tim Means repeatedly said he never knowingly took a banned substance, and although he’s been cleared of doing so, the welterweight admits he wasn’t sure this day would come.

Earlier this year, Means was notified by USADA that he had tested positive for the banned substance Ostarine. The fighter, who was pulled from a scheduled bout with Donald Cerrone in February, immediately said he never knowingly took the substance.

Well, just last week, USADA confirmed that a supplement Means had taken, tested positive for Ostarine. But, since the substance wasn’t listed as an ingredient, Means has been retroactively suspended for six months and can return to the cage in August.

Recently Means appeared on Full Contact Fighter Radio, and outlined in detail, how the process of securing and testing the tainted supplement came about. Means also acknowledged, however, that he was far from certain he would finally be cleared.

“I was very skeptical, “said Means, when asked if he believed earlier this year that eventually, he would be vindicated. “We were having to find the lot number of the supplement that was red flagged by Jeff Novitzky (the UFC’s  Vice President of Athlete Health and Performance). I had reached out to my supplement guy, who said he’d help me under any conditions to find out where the Ostarine had come from, because I didn’t knowingly ingest it.”

“I had said at the time it was USADA’s contamination, because they had tested so many athletes from the same machine, but when I got with Jeff Novitzky, he said with the amounts found in my system, that he suspected a supplement. He had me take pictures of the seven or eight supplements that I was taking and send them to him. He immediately picked out one in particular supplement and wanted me to find the lot number…Jeff Novitzky really got the ball rolling and really helped me out a lot.”

So, now Means could be booked to fight in August, and it will be interesting to see who the UFC taps to face “The Dirty Bird”.

“I want the Cerrone fight. I’m not going to call him out because he has an extremely tough fight in front of him (Patrick Cote this Saturday at UFC FN 89). No disrespect or hate for Cerrone, he’s just a guy that brings bonus fights man, he’s always getting a bonus when he steps in there, and those are the guys I want to be matched up with. There’s some boring wrestlers in the division that I’m just not interested in. I want guys to fight, not hug and hang on for 25 minutes, or forever how long we’re fighting…”

Means (25-7-1) is coming off second round, knockout win over John Howard in December and is 4-1 in his last 5 fights.

posted by FCF Staff @ 11:28 am
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