From serving nearly nine months in a Mexican prison for marijuana possession to entering his first UFC main event on Saturday in a top-15 welterweight matchup, the past year has been an incredible whirlwind for Daniel Rodriguez.
Even though marijuana is legal in the state of California, where the 39-year-old Rodriguez (20-5) lives, and decriminalized in Mexico, where he was visiting in the border city of Tijuana, the hard-hitting welterweight spent most of last year unsure whether the life he knew would ever be the same again after his July 2025 win over Kevin Holland.
Rodriguez, a native of Alhambra, California, claimed he forgot about the 27 grams of cannabis that was in his backpack and Mexican border authorities treated the infraction as a felony drug smuggling charge.
"There was just a question of my freedom, really," Rodriguez told CBS Sports HQ on Tuesday. "I wasn't sure if I would get out of jail and continue. They were trying to give me serious time for a little bit of weed. It has been a roller coaster, this whole journey. I have been free for a few months now and I have been able to get my body back into amazing shape and I'm just super grateful and super happy to be here."
This weekend, in UFC's first trip to Serbia, Rodriguez will headline a UFC Fight Night card from Belgrade Arena in the backyard of opponent Uros "The Doctor" Medic (13-3) as both fighters put three-fight win streaks on the line for a shot at catapulting themselves into true title contention at 170 pounds.
"This fight is the biggest fight of my career," Rodriguez said. "It's a main event against a ranked opponent. I've been in this position before but never in a main event. Honestly, I'm living my dream. Coming out here and experiencing all this after everything I've just went through is a total dream come true and stuff I have prayed for."
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Considering his age, the opportunity couldn't come at a better time for Rodriguez, who said his experience being incarcerated made him appreciate his career and he now finds himself even hungrier to see how far he can go up the welterweight ladder.
Rodriguez didn't come to MMA until he was 25. Five years after turning pro, he signed with UFC in 2020 and went 7-1 over his first two years. But after stepping up in competition, Rodriguez suffered a three-fight losing skid, which included a submission loss to Neil Magny, a head-kick TKO against Ian Machado Garry and a decision loss at middleweight to a struggling Kelvin Gastelum.
Few saw coming the immediate three-fight win streak that would follow such a skid, which now places "D-Rod" on the verge of cracking the top 10.
"I think it's just the fight game. There are ups and downs in this sport," Rodriguez said. "I did lose three times in a row but each of those fights were against elite fighters. I'm fighting the best fighters in the world and one guy has to lose and one guy has to win. A couple of those fights were really close.
"Coming off those three losses, I definitely felt a sense of urgency to not give up and not doubt myself. I made a few adjustments during fight camps and I think I found the right formula with the camp and the team. It was rough but riding a three-fight win streak definitely feels a lot better."
An accomplished brawler when needed, Rodriguez is also a technical striker with some of the best pure boxing skills in the UFC. He expects the fight with Medic, who has never gone the distance in 16 pro fights, to be explosive and fast-paced and ultimately believes his edge in experience will be the difference.
Rodriguez also mentioned the fact that he holds the highest average of significant strikes landed per minute in UFC history as a reason many people sleep on how good he truly is.
"The UFC did a great, great job doing this matchup," Rodriguez said. "We are both high, high output strikers and he is definitely dangerous and definitely in the first round. The odds of this fight going the full 25 minutes is very slim. I feel like my striking is a little underrated when people mention who has some of the best boxing in the game. Every fighter that I have fought has definitely complimented me on it. I definitely feel that my striking is some of the best in the UFC."
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