The accidental assassin: Abdul Razak Alhassan on his reluctant path to UFC Fight Night 109

STOCKHOLM – From Olympic hopeful to UFC prospect, Abdul Razak Alhassan arrived in Stockholm for UFC Fight Night 109 having followed the road less traveled.

Born in Accra, Ghana, but now living and training in Arlington, Texas, Alhassan said he fell into the sport of MMA by accident after arriving in the U.S. with dreams of competing in the Olympic Games as a judoka.

“(MMA) wasn’t something I planned to do,” Alhassan admitted. “I just got into it by my coach talking me into it.”

Things seemed to be moving in the right direction for Alhassan before his sudden career change, which came after a snap decision to stay in the U.S. after competing in a judo event

“Back home I wanted to be an Olympian,” he explained. “I was the No. 1 in my division in Ghana, so mostly I competed for Ghana every time – All-African Games, World Championships, stuff like that.

“One of the championships was in the U.S. in Georgia, and after that I didn’t go back. I ended up settling there.”

And after moving to Minnesota, a chance encounter with a kickboxing coach saw Alhassan convinced to take up the sport as a way of helping cut weight for his judo tournaments.

Then came the moment that transformed his career when, a couple of months after reluctantly taking up the sport as a means to an end, his new coach presented him with an unexpected challenge.

“He came to me and told me, ‘Hey, I’ve found you a fight,'” Alhassan said. “I was like, ‘No, no, no. Dude! Wait! I never told you I wanted to fight. I told you I just wanted to train.’

“He said ‘There’s nothing I can do. I’ve already got you the fight. Just do it.’ So I ended up doing it, and I won in the first round.”

That one-off fight soon became two when another fight was presented two months later. Alhassan wasn’t overly impressed but grinned as he explained, “I was like, ‘Why don’t you tell me first before you find me a fight?’

“I ended up doing it, and I won again. By the third time I was like, ‘OK, whatever. Let’s just do it,’ and that’s how I got into MMA.”

It’s certainly gone well for him so far. Seven fights, seven wins and seven first-round knockout finishes have marked him as a hot prospect in the UFC’s welterweight division. He’s becoming known for quickfire finishes, too, with his longest bout lasting a mere 86 seconds. His average fight time? Fifty-six seconds.

It’s a remarkable record for a judoka who’d barely thrown a punch in competition until four years ago.

He says his newly-discovered knockout power is God-given and is something he prefers to use, rather than the judo skills he’s honed over years of training in Ghana and the U.S.

“I’m very aggressive, so if I’m doing something, I want to put everything I have in there,” Alhassan explained. “I don’t plan to come in there and finish the fight quick – it’s just something that happens, you know? And I’m glad God gives me the power to finish them, because nobody wants to fight the whole 15 minutes if you can finish it quicker.

“Now I feel like I’m more comfortable standing up. Even though I’m a judo guy, I prefer standing rather than taking someone on the ground. If I have to show my judo, yes, I’ll show it. But if I don’t have the need to show it, I’d rather stand and throw punches and finish the fight quicker.”

That approach to the fight game was there for all to see in Belfast last November, when he demolished Conor McGregor’s SBG Ireland stablemate Charlie Ward in just 53 seconds at UFC Fight Night 99.

That was Alhassan’s UFC debut, and he looked every bit the blue-chip prospect as he dispatched Ward with consummate ease and announced himself on the sport’s biggest stage as a serious prospect at 170 pounds.

The quickfire KO artist is looking to surge up the UFC’s welterweight rankings at UFC Fight Night 109 in Stockholm, with Sunday night’s matchup with teak-tough Russian Omari Akhmedov a significant test of his credentials as he bids to extend his unbeaten run.

It’s a bout he says will pose one of the toughest tests of his career.

“I can definitely say he’s going to be one of my biggest challenges, because he has a lot of heart,” Alhassan explained. “Every Russian has a lot of heart. They come in hard, they fight hard, big puncher, so I know he’s going to be a big challenge to me.

“I would never ever underestimate anybody. I don’t care how many fights you have, even if it’s just one fight. I will never underestimate you. I’ll come in as hard as I can, but I know I’m going to overcome him and win this fight, for sure.”

Proud of his African heritage, Alhassan is relishing the chance to travel the world to compete and grateful for the opportunity to train in the U.S., where he has access to the best facilities in the world.

“It’s hard out there (in Ghana),” he explained. “You grow up in a poor family and you have to work hard to even get through the day. So moving here was kind of a blessing. It helped me a lot. I’m able to train here, train hard, work and take care of my family at the same time back home.

“I’m really happy I got this opportunity to do it.”

But despite being happy with his new life in America, he also revealed his dream to one day go home to fight on a UFC show in Africa.

“By God’s grace, exactly, that’s the plan,” he enthused. “I have some (African) friends. Kamaru Usman is Nigerian, Francis Ngannou and Marc Diakiese. We’re all trying to put the African name out there. It would be awesome to go to Africa and represent there and show them that, hey, we’ve made it.

“(In Africa) we knew about MMA because of PRIDE, but nobody really did it. And even if we did it we didn’t have the jiu jitsu coaches back then (and) we didn’t have a good Muay Thai coach to teach. Moving here and having all those coaches here to teach us, we can say ‘Hey, we’re here, we can do this!’

“We have the heart. We have the power. We’re here to take over. We want to show them – don’t look down on us; we’re coming.”

And Alhassan’s march towards UFC notoriety continues when he takes on Akhmedov. While not over-confident, Alhassan says he’s already sure of the result.

“Nobody goes into a fight thinking he’s going to lose,” Alhassan said. “I want to finish with a knockout, and even if I can’t finish with a knockout, I’m going to make sure I dominate the fight the whole way.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 109, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.