“D-Rod” is finally free — and now we know why.
Last week, No. 14-ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight Daniel Rodriguez shocked fans by revealing he had spent the past eight months incarcerated in a prison in Tijuana, Mexico
.Now, he’s explained exactly how it happened — and it all started with a simple mistake just a couple of weeks after his biggest UFC win.
“I went on vacation across the border to Mexico, and I forgot I had a little bag of weed with me,” Rodriguez said in an interview
with Ariel Helwani. “It was under an ounce. I got pulled over at the line and got checked, and man, the border patrol was tripping on the weed.”
What he expected to be a minor issue quickly spiraled.
“I was thinking I was only going to be in jail for probably the weekend, maybe a little bit shorter, but the laws over there in Mexico are way different,” Rodriguez added. “They don’t play no games. What I thought was going to be probably a little weekend or overnight turned into eight months right in the prime of my career. Yeah, man. That was it.”
Rodriguez confirmed that it was 27 grams of marijuana that got him arrested and thrown into jail, but being from California and training in Las Vegas, where weed is legal, he didn’t think too much of it.
“I made a mistake in trying to get some weed over the border,” Rodriguez said. “Everybody in Mexico knows the weed over there is trash. I made an honest mistake, and I ended up paying big time for it.”
The uncertainty, he says, was the hardest part.
With no clear timeline for release, Rodriguez was stuck in limbo for months as his case slowly moved through the system. While he ended up getting lucky and receiving “privileges” because guards identified him as a fighter — including limited access to a phone to talk to his family, television, and even basic workout equipment — he was stuck in jail.
“The whole judicial system in Mexico is a different world,” Rodriguez said. “They didn’t have a sense of urgency to move my case forward. It took so long, man. There were so many ups and downs. I went to a few court days. I thought I was getting out, and I didn’t end up getting out. Honestly, I was looking at probably getting out until late June or July.”
“It’s the worst possible situation,” Rodriguez added. “Fortunately, I was able to make the most of it. I was able to pull a couple of strings and get a little workout equipment. I was able to work out and try to stay in shape, but it’s not the same, man. It’s not the same. We only went to the 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 guy out there just running laps and laps, but it’s only twice a week. The worst part about the whole thing was the food. I feel a little bit unhealthy, a little bit malnourished. I think that was the toughest part, the nutrition.”
Eventually, help arrived.
“Luckily, I got an amazing legal team, and we were able to work some things out, but there’s a whole bunch of requirements and stuff behind it I have to stick to.”
Now back home and focused on his career, Rodriguez is already looking ahead — and aiming high.
“I want to shoot for the stars,” Rodriguez said, mentioning a potential return against former UFC champion Leon Edwards later this year.
After eight months behind bars…
“D-Rod” is ready to make up for lost time.
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