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The UFC welterweight was
accused of raping two women in Forth Worth, Texas, on March 23,
2018 after taking them home from a club where he worked as a
bouncer. Alhassan claimed that he had consensual sex with only one
of the women, and he was finally
found not guilty of all charges in court this past March.
Regardless of what happened in court, life will never be the same
for Alhassan. The public nature of the testimony has a way of
sticking in people’s heads even after the accused’s name is
cleared.
“It’s forever changed, because your name can never be the same,”
Alhassan said while speaking to media on Monday. “But for me, life
is back to normal. The reason I say that is the past two years life
was not normal. The only thing I pretty much did cry, sleep, look
at my family. Cry in my sleep without even knowing I was crying and
my family would wake me up saying I was crying in my sleep. Think
about the stress, what was going to happen in the future. You never
know what’s going to happen.”
Alhassan fought once in the UFC after being indicted on the sexual
assault allegations, defeating Niko Price by
43-second knockout at UFC 228 in September 2018. His career has
been on hold since then, and for a while he wasn’t motivated to
train or fight. The 34-year-old will return for the first time
since beating Price when he meets Mounir
Lazzez at UFC
on ESPN 13 on Wednesday. For a long time, Alhassan doubted that
he’d ever find his way back to the Octagon. His mind was in such a
dark place that fighting wasn’t a serious consideration.
“So many times. I even doubted if I’d be alive, because I wanted to
kill myself,” Alhassan said. “Because people don’t see what happens
in the background. A lot of people who doubt you, or say bad stuff
about you when they don’t know the truth, because this is the type
of harassment you don’t wish on anybody.
“I sat down and thought about it. I have two kids. I have a girl
and I have a boy. What would happen to them if I took myself out
because of some evil people? But like I said I have proved my
innocence and I proved that they will never amount to anything and
God will always figure out and show the truth. But I learned so
much from it.”
While the thoughts of suicide eventually subsided, the anger still
remains. Alhassan is doing his best to work through those emotions
so that he can fully focus on his MMA career.
“I thought about revenge. If I tell you I didn’t, I’m lying,” he
said. “I thought about all the revenge in this world I can to take
revenge. Because they really got to feel the pain that they put me
through. They are out there stripping, not caring what they are
doing to me. Having life, putting stuff on social media. They’re
happy, throwing alcohol while I’m home crying everyday, can’t even
take care of my kids. I have so much anger. I know it’s behind me
now, but I really hope God takes some huge revenge on these girls.
I really hope they get what they deserve.”
Getting a chance to return to the UFC after nearly two years on the
sideline has been redemptive for the Fortis MMA product after so
much uncertainty.
“It feels amazing,” he said. “When you go through some stuff like
that and not knowing where your life is going, all you think about
is negativity in your head, stress, it’s stressful.
“For God to help you through all of this and to prove your
innocence and getting back to what you love. It’s amazing in so
many different ways that I can be here today.”
Now, there is the matter of reclaiming the momentum lost due to
idle time. Before his hiatus, “Judo Thunder” had been victorious in
four of five UFC appearances, with all of his victories coming via
first-round KO/TKO. His lone setback was a split-decision defeat to
Omari
Akhmedov at UFC Fight Night 109. Alhassan is confident that he
will be able to pick up where he left off come Wednesday night.
I don’t believe in [ring rust],” he said. “Of course it might feel
different walking in there. The emotions might be different because
you haven’t walked in there for a while. But when the door closes,
knowing that there’s someone right there trying to smash your face
in, that will give you all the motivation you need.”