One fighter that Means has wanted to battle for a long time in Diego Sanchez, whom Means claims has been ducking him for quite awhile now.
?We reached out to [UFC matchmaker Sean] Shelby and said, ?hey, we?d like this fight.? I get an email from the UFC and they?re telling me Diego is matched for a fight in March but had to pull out for personal reasons,? said Means on Pull No Punches (via Shakiel Mahjouri of Bloody Elbow). ?I didn?t hear anything from Diego, at all. A week later, Diego has re-signed his contract to fight Mickey Gall and then Diego gets on social media talking all sorts of s?t to me about how badass he is. I have that message from the UFC saying Sanchez pulled out of his fight due to personal reasons. As soon as he caught wind of me wanting to fight him... he reached back out to the UFC and re-signed the [Gall] fight and started yapping at me because he?s already busy. He said he couldn?t meet me at 170 because it was a disadvantage and that he would meet me at 145 to fight. Low and behold here is fighting Craig White [at welterweight]. This isn?t a pay check thing, it?s a pride thing. I would bet my purse on it and I would make sure I am Diego?s last fight.?
Sanchez was last seen defeating Mickey Gall at UFC 235, but didn?t mention Means in any post-fight comments.
There is no word yet on how long that Means is expected to be out of action for due to the surgeries, but a potential Sanchez bout could materialize when the fighter heals up.