UFC middleweight star Abdul Razak Alhassan is a devastator. One of the most exciting fighters to watch, the ‘Judo Thunder’ does not waste any time in the Octagon. After all, of the twelve pro-MMA wins (including six in the UFC) Alhassan has racked up in his career, all of them have come via knockouts!

Well, that would be enough to impress anyone, right? But guess what? Eleven of those twelve KO wins came in the very first round, with the other one coming in the second! Alhassan, it is safe to say, is the type of fighter Dana White and the fans couldn’t make in a lab if they tried. And just like his unique and distinct MMA career, ‘Judo Thunder’ has had a pretty unique and distinct road to the UFC.

Is Abdul Razak Alhassan from Ghana?

Abdul Razak Alhasssan was forged in fire and went to the school of hard knocks as a child. ‘Judo Thunder’ was born and grew up in Accra, the capital and largest city of Ghana. However, ‘Judo Thunder’ grew up in poverty, with his family sometimes struggling to even out food on the table!

But Alhassan was built different! Determined to make his family’s life better, the UFC middleweight took up martial arts in the absence of other opportunities for a poor kid like him. He started training judo as a child and dedicated himself completely to it. Eventually, he would reach a level where he was representing the country at international Judo events, which would change the trajectory of his whole life, and enable him to give his family the kind of life they could only dream of before.

The reason Alhassan came to America in the first place was to represent Ghana at a judo tournament more than a decade ago. Seeing that the States had exponentially more opportunities than his homeland, ‘Judo Thunder’ decided to stay in America, and eventually started training MMA.

“It’s hard out there [in Ghana]. 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,” Alhassan would tell ‘MMA Junkie’ in a 2017 interview.

Despite the hardships he faced growing up in Ghana, the knockout artist still has a lot of love for his homeland. To this day, Alhassan represents the beautiful tricolored Ghana flag and still holds his native nation’s citizenship.

More about Abdul Razak Alhassan’s background

Abdul Razak Alhassan’s father, Garba did everything he could to provide for his family. Garba was a small trader in Accra and the earnings of his business were just enough to put food on his family’s table. However, the senior Alhassan was not content with this and wanted a better life for his family, which almost proved fatal for him. When Abdul Razak was a child, his father would go to the neighboring country of Liberia to acquire goods for his business, hoping to sell them for a higher profit margin in his native Ghana.

Alas, everything went horribly wrong as civil war broke out within Liberia while Garba was there and the family lost all contact with him for a significant period. They feared Garba was dead, and his absence would further pauperize the family, who were already in a shaky financial situation. To the point that the family often didn’t even have enough to eat.

“He was there and we all loved him and then, boom, he’s gone like that and we don’t hear from him at all. We had nothing and we had to scrape by on what we could. We’d eat once a day if we even had food,” Abdul Razak would recall to MMA journalist Kevin Iole in an interview.

Hard times, as they say, create strong men, and that is nowhere more true than in Abdul Razak’s case. Forged in the fire of these traumatic experiences, ‘Judo Thunder’ developed a resilience, steeliness, and work ethic that has made him the man and the fighter he is today, helping him reach the biggest, most popular combat sports stage in the world. What do you think about Abdul Razak Alhassan’s journey to the UFC?