Daniel Rodriguez says a vacation trip to Mexico two weeks after his UFC 318 win over Kevin Holland turned into an eight-month stay in a Mexican prison in Tijuana after border patrol checked him at the line and found a little bag of weed under an ounce.
Rodriguez, who disappeared from public view after beating Holland last July, said he expected to be in jail only overnight or for the weekend. Instead, he said, the arrest became the worst possible situation, one that he described as the prime and the smack of his career.
He said on social media that he had gone to Mexico for vacation and forgot about the weed in the car he was driving. He said the front license plate had no tags, which prompted the search, and that border patrol were tripping on the weed. Rodriguez said he thought there might be a way out and tried to offer money on the spot, but the National Guard did not take it.
That account helps fill in the gap left by his absence after UFC 318, when he had just put together three straight wins following a three-fight skid from 2022 to 2024. Rodriguez said the jail time was his first in Mexico and that it was far worse than the incarceration he experienced in his youth. He also said his friend was arrested and spent eight months in prison as well.
Rodriguez said he was originally supposed to be released in March, but the case instead kept him behind bars for eight months. He said he managed to gain some VIP status among fellow prisoners and the guards, but the bigger point was simpler: he said Mexican laws are way different and they do not play no games, and he learned that after what started as a short trip across the border.
