Former UFC star known as ‘Dirty Bird’ punched and headbutted teen daughter during argument over chores, police say

A former UFC fighter in New Mexico is facing charges after police say he punched his 17-year-old daughter in the face and headbutted her during an argument over household chores.

Tim Means, 42, was taken into custody after the April 21 incident and charged with a felony count of child abuse. He was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center on Wednesday and released Friday, according to court records.

Deputies with the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office responded to a home on Camino De Avila in Tijeras after a report of a physical altercation, according to a criminal complaint obtained by The Albuquerque Journal.

When they arrived, Means’s teenage daughter told police she had been arguing with her father about chores when he allegedly headbutted her in the nose.

She told police that Means continued to get in her face, so she pushed him away, according to the complaint. The two ended up in the kitchen, where Means allegedly grabbed the teen by her neck in a “strangulating manner” and held her against the counter.

The teen said Means then grabbed a potato and threw it at her face. She said she began pushing and punching him in an attempt to get free.

As she was trying to gather her belongings to leave, she said that’s when Means punched her on the right side of her face with a closed fist, according to the complaint.

“Let it be known that there were visible hand and red marks on (the teen’s) neck, indicating she was strangled,” the complaint states.

“There was blood on and in her nose where she was head-butted and several red marks indicated she was hit in the face and on her cheek.”

Means, known as “Dirty Bird,” has fought professionally since 2004, but lost five of his most recent fights and has not fought since October 2024.

He was previously released by the UFC in 2013 after repeated failures to make weight, but returned the following year and continued competing in the welterweight division.

In 2016, he was suspended after testing positive for a banned substance, but he was reinstated six months later after the result was attributed to a tainted supplement.