Abdul Razak Alhassan Vows to Unleash Demons From Past on Cody Brundage

Cody Brundage (10-6) might have to bear the wrath of Abdul Razak Alhassan (12-6) due to no fault of his own in their upcoming bout this weekend.

Both Alhassan (12-6) and Brundage (10-6) will be fighting in front of a home crowd at UFC on ESPN 59 at Ball Arena in Denver on July 13. Alhassan vented out a lot of pent-up anger at UFC Denver media day, promising to unleash the worst of it on Brundage come fight night.

“I have some demons in me that I’m trying to unleash on that motherfuc*er,” Alhassan said. “Of course, my word is going to make it sound like I hate him. I have nothing against him. I swear to God, I’m going to unleash some fuc*ing demons on that motherfuc*er.”

The anger in Alhassan stems from past sexual assault allegations which he was later acquitted of. Alhassan was working as a bouncer at a Fort Worth, Texas, bar in 2018 when two women, aged 20 and 22, accused him of raping them at one of their houses after a party. Alhassan consistently denied the charges, claiming to have had consensual sex with one of the women. Alhassan’s defense argued that the allegations were made to pacify a jealous boyfriend of one of the women. The UFC fighter was finally acquitted of all charges after almost two years.

Alhassan admitted that he has still been trying to deal with mental trauma he has been through, without much success.

“There was a time in my life that some bad accusations happened to me and I’m not going to lie, it fuc*ed me up mentally, I swear to God. All my fights I try to come back and try to find that me, I couldn’t find it no matter what I do. I’ll be walking in there and I feel ashamed. Because that’s the most evil, the most disgusting thing you can attack for somebody – I’m a very prideful person – to even have something [like that] to attach to my name, it’s very disgusting.”

Alhassan had won 10 of his 11 total fights thus far via first-round knockout when he was indicted in 2018. The once-promising prospect went on a three-fight slump on his return to the Octagon in 2020. Alhassan has since gone 2-2 in his last four, suffering a submission loss against Joe Pyfer in his most recent outing in October 2023. However, the Ghanaian thanks Pyfer for bringing out the demon in him that he plans on unleashing in his upcoming clash against Brundage. Alhassan said through clenched teeth:

“In my head I was thinking to myself I have fixed myself, I’ve fixed it. But I swear to God, I never. Until… I’ll thank [Joe] Pyfer for that last fight… I feel like that guy made me find that fuc*ing demon in me that f*ck everything and think of myself. I’m going to cry, I’m going to do everything I have to do, but I’ll never give up. And this is that f*cking time, I swear to God, I cannot wait to put my hand on that motherf*cker. I swear all the anger I have in me, all the [clenches teeth and fists], I’m going to unleash it on this motherfuc*er. The revenge I didn’t get on those evil motherfuc*ers, the revenge that the law didn’t allow me to get from that, those fuc*ing bitches, I swear I’m going to unleash it on this motherfuc*er.”