‘He walked just fine’: Pros react to Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Cody Brundage ending in controversial no-contest

Cody Brundage has had one of the strangest years in recent memory, and on Saturday night, another chapter was added to that story.

Brundage competed in the middleweight main card opener of UFC Denver against dangerous knockout artist Abdul Razak Alhassan, who looked to end the fight early. After stuffing a Brundage takedown, Alhassan delivered some big elbows that had his opponent badly hurt. Alhassan kept landing hard shots and elbows, with multiple blows clearly hitting Brundage in the back of the head — which referee Dan Miragliotta warned Alhassan about.

About 15 seconds later, Alhassan landed another shot to the back of the head and the action was halted. Brundage then took the full five minutes of recovery time before physicians ruled that he could no longer continue, resulting in a no-contest.

It was the second time in four fights that illegal strikes to Brundage led to a fight being stopped early. Additionally, Brundage’s two other fights since September were at UFC 300 against Bo Nickal, and his slam knockout win against Zachary Reese.

After the fight, their fellow UFC fighters reacted to the abrupt ending.