Daniel Rodriguez is a free man.
The UFC welterweight recently secured his release from a Mexican jail after being imprisoned for eight months due to an arrest at the border when he was caught in possession of marijuana. Rodriguez was coming off of his third straight win, a unanimous decision over Kevin Holland at UFC 318 this past July, when his 2025 campaign was abruptly cut short.
During an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, Rodriguez recounted his harrowing experience.
“This is my first time in
Mexican jail and I can tell you one thing for sure, it’s the worst possible situation,” Rodriguez said. “Fortunately, I was able to make the best of it. I was able to pull a couple of strings and get a little bit of workout equipment there and I was able to work out and try and stay in shape, but it’s not the same. We only went to yard twice a week and those days were the only days I would get to run. I spent the whole time running, I probably looked like a crazy ass dude out there just running laps and laps and laps and laps, but it was only twice a week.
“I think the worst part about the whole thing was the food. I felt a little bit unhealthy, a little malnourished. I think that was the toughest part, is the nutrition. I was coming off that big fight and my body was healthy and the best shape ever, and then to be thrown and locked in a jail cell and just put in one spot and just getting the bare minimum food to eat, it was terrible.”
According to Rodriguez, he had “friends in high places” who eventually helped him improve his living conditions, but his initial impression was that he was in serious trouble, and his UFC fighter celebrity status was a mixed bag when it came to how he’d be treated in prison.
“My first court date, one of the guards recognized me and started asking me for pictures,” Rodriguez said. “I’m like, ‘What the hell?’ So all the guards are right there taking pictures. Some of the inmates saw that and one inmate asked, ‘What’s up with you?’ and this and that. I didn’t really want to say anything. In a situation like that, you want to keep the lowest profile, because me being who I am, it’s kind of like a target on my back. People are going to want to test you, you never know. So I was just wanting to keep a low profile.
“Once that happened, as soon as I hit the prison, and over there it’s not like out here. I’ve been in jail over here where there’s like the L.A. county jail, where it’s not ‘prison’ prison. But over there, they throw you straight in, it’s straight into prison and my first, like, 12 days there I was in a six-man cell with, like, 25 people in there. Dudes sleeping on the floor, two men per bunk, and I couldn’t even sleep. It was just disgusting in there, it’s horrible. The most horrible situation you can think of. Fortunately, word got around that I was in there and I got shot up to the VIP section, so I was fortunate enough to get some love. Yeah, they did show me a lot of love, in the back of my mind I kind of had a sense like, I think this guy’s using me as protection. I’m kind of like his bodyguard or some shit, but I just ran with it.”
Rodriguez recently posted a video celebrating his release, complete with scenes of him training. He claims he paid guards to allow him to get some mitt work in.
As for how Rodriguez ended up in this situation in the first place, it all goes back to how he decided to celebrate his win over Holland.
“Pretty sure you all remember my last fight vs. Kevin Holland, it was an amazing matchup and I went on vacation to cross the border,” Rodriguez said. “I crossed the border to Mexico and I forgot I had a little bag of weed with me, it was under an ounce and I got pulled over at the line, got checked, and the border patrol were tripping on the weed. I was thinking I was only going to be in there probably the weekend, maybe a little bit shorter, but the laws over there in Mexico are way different. They don’t play no games.
“What I was thinking would turn into what was going to be a little weekend or maybe overnight turned into eight months. Smack in the prime of my career, that was it.”
Rodriguez isn’t exactly sure why he and his friend’s vehicle was inspected, though he claims border patrol stopped them due to a massing license plate tag. He also thinks that he was treated harshly due to the current political tension between Mexico and the United States, and that authorities may have wanted to make an example out of him.
“The police, it was actually the border patrol, the national guard, they don’t play no games,” Rodriguez said. “I didn’t realize that they’d take it so seriously and potentially they hit me with a smuggling charge. So there I guess that’s actually a really big deal and I tried to offer some money to get me out right there on the spot, but they weren’t going for it.”
What Rodriguez hoped would be no more than a 48-hour stay in prison turned into eight months, with court dates coming and going with no resolution. One meeting in March left Rodriguez particularly disheartened as he was told not only would he not be getting out, but he could be stuck behind bars until the summer. Fortunately for the fighter, that didn’t turn out to be the case.
“I guess the whole judicial system in Mexico is like a whole different world and they really didn’t have no sense of urgency to move my case forward and it took so long,” Rodriguez said. “It was ups and downs. I went to a few court dates where I thought I was getting out and I didn’t end up getting out and honestly, I was looking at probably being in there until June or July.”
Rodriguez credits his MMA background with helping him get through the most difficult times, as it has many times in the past. Not only did the lessons learned form his life in fighting provide the mental fortitude needed to make it through this latest ordeal, it also gave Rodriguez a support system in his fight for freedom.
“If you know my background, you know that this is not my first time going to jail,” Rodriguez said. “This is just a part of life. My journey through the whole MMA thing and MMA has really helped me change things for me. We’re able to start programs and try to help people, try to get the youth and start programs for them so they could experience what I experienced, which is the discipline and looking forward to something better in life than a lot of the troubled stuff, like a lot of gangs.
“In Mexico, it’s way much worse. Shoutout to Raul over there at Entram Gym. He shot me a good letter of recommendation. There were a ton of people. I had a ton of support coming in, a lot of fighters actually. Yair Rodriguez tried to pull some strings for me, Brian Ortega was there for me, it was a ton of people. My whole management team, even the UFC tried to get involved, but there was only so much they could do because like I said, the Mexican government, they weren’t having it.”
Rodriguez wouldn’t say exactly how he secured his release, only that he credits his legal team with pushing the right buttons to make it happen. The 39-year-old is eager to resume his career and despite being in substandard training conditions for the past eight months, he’s optimistic that he can book a fight in 2026.
“There’s some good offers,” Rodriguez said. “Kevin Holland tried to slide in my DMs yesterday and I’m not interested in that. I already beat him. I know he won yesterday, but I really want to shoot for the stars, I really want to take this to the highest level possible and we’re possibly looking at a matchup versus Leon Edwards. I think ideally a solid three months, I’ll be ready.”
