UFC middleweight star Abdul Razak Alhassan entered the UFC undefeated in his six MMA fights. His debut in the Dana White-led promotion in November 2016 turned out to be almost perfect as ‘Judo Thunder’ won it via a first-round knockout. Like his friend and former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, the Ghanaian too emigrated abroad. However, his record in the promotion is quite different from ‘Izzy’. Since joining the UFC, he is 6-6 in the promotion. But what the two Africans have in common is that they both have a strong dislike for South African UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis.

Abdul Razak Alhassan came into the headlines last month after calling out ‘DDP’ over the latter’s ‘real African champion’ jibe aimed chiefly at Israel Adesanya. Alhassan, on being asked his opinion about Du Plessis’ comments, trashed the champ, calling ‘DDP’ a “b**ch” and an “a**hole” for the comments, which he felt showed that the champ was disconnected from how Africans live and the lack of opportunities in their country. “If he’s a real f**king African and lived in Africa, he would never have used that f**king word,” he said.

Adesanya jumped on these comments from the Ghanaian, agreeing with him. ‘Izzy’ felt that the ‘privileged’ Du Plessis couldn’t understand how difficult and painful it was to have no option but to leave one’s home country in search of better opportunities overseas, away from one’s family and loved ones.

“I’m also glad my friend Abdul Razak (Alhassan) said it before his fight about three weeks ago… People like Razak and myself who are forced to flee our own country because of a better opportunity. He’ll never understand that because he lives behind the f**king gates of his privileged life in South Africa, and he’s able to do that there,” Adesanya told TMZ Sports ahead of his UFC 305 title clash against ‘DDP’ on Saturday.

While Israel Adesanya, who grew up in a well-off household with servants to attend to him, and left his native Nigeria as a kid to study abroad, was called out by some such as Darren Till for allegedly appropriating struggles he didn’t go through, this is very far from the case for Alhassan.

How martial arts let Abdul Razak Alhassan escape poverty

‘Judo Thunder’, of course, hails from the African country of Ghana. The UFC star was born and raised in the capital city of Accra at a time when the economy was not in a good place. As a struggling young man, Alhassan didn’t have many opportunities. But he had a skill- ‘Judo Thunder’ had started training in Judo before his tenth birthday and had gotten quite good at it.

So good, in fact, that he was able to come to America for championships in his early twenties, where he has lived ever since to make money and take care of his family. The middleweight, along with his martial arts training, used to work at Delta Airlines, and even today serves as a bouncer in clubs for some extra supplementary income, even as he is a current fighter in the world’s premiere combat sports promotion.

It was in America that ‘Judo Thunder’ discovered and fell in love with MMA, turning pro in 2013 at the age of 28. And the rest, as they say, is history. What are your thoughts about this real African debate heating up in the MMA world? Let us know in the comments below.