A Ghanaian UFC fighter was indicted for two alleged sexual assaults Monday in Texas, MMA Fighting has confirmed.
Abdul Razak Alhassan is being accused of raping two women after taking them home from a Fort Worth bar in March, per the indictment obtained Wednesday from the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office. The story was first reported by the Star-Telegram.
Alhassan, 33, was reportedly arrested in April and released at that time on $20,000 bond. A judge allowed him to remove a GPS monitor to train and fight at UFC 228 on Sept. 8 in Dallas, per the Star-Telegram. Alhassan defeated Niko Price by knockout in just 43 seconds in that fight.
It’s unclear if the UFC knew about the charges Alhassan was facing prior to UFC 228. A request for comment has not been immediately returned.
Brandon Barnett, Alhassan’s attorney, told MMAFighting on Wednesday that Alhassan plans to plead not guilty on the two counts of sexual assault.
“Mr. Alhassan has retained counsel,” Barnett said. “He intends to plead not guilty and we’ll do all the talking we need to do in court.”
Per the Star-Telegram citing the arrest affidavit, Alhassan, a native of Ghana, was working as the head of security at the Varsity Tavern bar in Fort Worth in March when he met two women, ages 22 and 20. He allegedly let the younger women into the bar, though she was underage, in exchange for the older woman’s phone number.
Later, Alhassan is being accused of driving both women, who were drunk, back to the 20-year-old’s home and forcibly raping both of them. The 20-year-old told police, according to the Star-Telegram, that Alhassan grabbed her from behind, pushed her face into the bed and raped her, then moved to her 22-year-old friend and raped her.
The Star-Telegram reported that the 20-year-old told cops that she didn’t scream or help her friend, because she was too intoxicated, still out of it and “was trying to piece together what was going on as it was occurring.”
Both women were given sexual assault exams at John Peter Smith Hospital, according to the paper. The 22-year-old told police that she was so drunk she could not remember what happened the night of the alleged assault.
Alhassan is a judo black belt who began in his professional MMA career in 2013. He has been in the UFC since 2016. Alhassan, who has a 10-1 record in MMA, has won his last three fights and four of his last five via first-round knockout. He is considered a rising star in the welterweight division.
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Source: mmafighting.com
