Abdul Razak Alhassan Released By UFC; Antonina Shevchenko Retires

Veteran striker Abdul Razak Alhassan has been released by the UFC, while Antonina Shevchenko has also exited the promotion after announcing her retirement.

The 39-year-old Alhassan, aka ‘Judo Thunder’ has been in the UFC since 2016, putting together a 6-7 (+1nc) record over the years.

Alhassan’s time in the Octagon started brightly with four wins from his first five fights, including a 43 second knockout victory over Niko Price.

And KO wins were a recurring theme for Alhassan, as all 12 of his career victories were by knockout, with all but one coming in the first round.

Alhassan began picking up more defeats than victories as time went on in the UFC however, and in the past couple of years he was submitted by Joe Pyfer, had a fight with Cody Brundage declared a no-contest due to an accidental elbow to the back of the head, and then most recently suffered a 1st round KO defeat against Cesar Almeida that’s brought an end to his time in the promotion.

Meanwhile, the 40-year-old Antonina Shevchenko has been removed from the UFC roster after she announced that she’s decided to hang up her gloves.

The sister of women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko, Antonina also began her fighting career in kickboxing and muay thai, before turning her full attention to MMA after joining the UFC.

Shevchenko went on to experience mixed results in the Octagon, going 4-4 overall, including a split-decision victory over Cortney Casey in her final fight.

That win came back in July of 2022 though and she hasn’t fought since, and has now decided to leave the sport to put her full focus into her other career as a commercial pilot.