Shrugging off that dark chapter, Daniel Rodriguez is finally set to return to the Octagon at the UFC’s inaugural event in Serbia on August 1 at Belgrade Arena, where he will face rising Serbian welterweight contender Uros Medic in the first main event of his UFC career. While Rodriguez is grateful for the opportunity to make his comeback, the 39-year-old admitted there was a time when he doubted whether he would ever make it out of prison.
“Yeah, bro. It’s… you just seem gracious,” D-Rod told Dominick Cruz on the Love and War Podcast. “It’s 100% a blessing to, like, get out of jail and still have this opportunity. Like, I never had a main event. It’s my first main event, and, to get out of jail, new contract, main event, and I just think that these are the things that I would pray for when I was in jail…, you know, that I would think about. And I think that, for some reason, somehow, some way, this is happening for a reason, you know?
“I also knew that this was going to boost me… but I was just worried that, uh, I wasn’t going to get out. Yeah. You know, because it was looking kind of, it was looking a little, a little impossible to get out for a little while, you know? But the Mexican jail system and judicial system are a whole different, whole different, um, than the United States, bro.”
Daniel Rodriguez has long been one of the UFC’s more recognizable stars, having competed in several exhilarating clashes over the years. Last year, the Californian secured a hard-fought victory over Kevin Holland at UFC 318, further propelling him into the spotlight. However, Rodriguez’s complete disappearance following that fight raised serious concerns among fans. Later, it emerged that he had spent eight months in a Tijuana jail for possession charges.
Rodriguez eventually made it out of the Mexican prison and is now preparing for his UFC return, though the ordeal was far from easy. The veteran welterweight revealed that his fame made his experience behind bars even more difficult, recalling how a band member arrested for the same offense was forced to pay an exorbitant amount of money.
“There was this band,” Rodriguez added. “One of the dudes got arrested for the same thing… and they ended up having to pay a [expletive]-load of money. And everyone was like, ‘Yo, this is the same situation you’re in.’ So I’m like, ‘This is going to be that situation, you know?” And I already knew how, I had an idea of how it works, you know? But, when it all went down, I was like, ‘Damn, this is crazy, dude.’”
Well, the #13-ranked welterweight contender’s admission is nothing new. Rodriguez previously recounted the story on The Joe Rogan Experience, revealing that several people in the prison tried to take photos with him before a guard allegedly attempted to extort $7,000 from him in exchange for a transfer to a better cell.
Rodriguez eventually secured the move for $3,000, after which a high-ranking cartel member made the UFC fighter his cellmate. However, “D-Rod” had to serve as his bodyguard for a while. Still, he isn’t the first prominent fighter to be moved to a different section because of his celebrity status. Jon Jones was also transferred to a different cell after ‘Bones’ was arrested for a probation violation in 2016.
That said, with Daniel Rodriguez finally ready to make his comeback, it will be interesting to see how he performs against Uros Medic in Belgrade after spending more than a year away from competition.
