Abdul Razak Alhassan has sent his fair share of opponents to dreamland over the course of his fighting career, however on Saturday at the first UFC event of 2025 he was the one on the receiving end of a devastating knockout punch.
Less than a minute after dropping his opponent, César Almeida, with a straight right hand in their 185-pound main card matchup, Alhassan aggressively pursued the finish but was caught with a crushing left hook that rendered him unconscious.
Alhassan was out cold as soon as Almeida’s punch landed, Alhassan fell backwards and hit the back of his head on the canvas.
The 39-year-old from Ghana remained on the mat for several minutes before he was escorted out of the cage. He was visibly wobbly as exited the Octagon.
“I’m sorry, fans. I got greedy and I got caught,” Alhassan said late Saturday in video he posted to his Instagram story. “No excuses. I’m sorry to my fans, my true fans. I got greedy and went for it and got caught. There’s nothing I can do but cry myself to sleep.”
It was only the second time Alhassan has been knocked out in his professional mixed martial arts career. He previous knockout defeat was against Khaos Williams in 2020 when he competed at welterweight before Alhassan moved up to the middleweight division.
Alhassan is a nine-year UFC veteran. He is 6-7 with one no-contest in his 14 appearances with all six of his victories coming by knockout.
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