UFC fighter incredibly confirms he was in prison in Mexico during eight-month absence

A veteran UFC star has confirmed his release from prison after going completely off the radar for months, having last fought at UFC 318 on July 19 last year.

When Daniel Rodriguez defeated Kevin Holland by unanimous decision eight months ago, fans definitely didn’t expect the 39-year-old to be locked up shortly afterwards.

Although it remains unclear what offence was committed by the California-born fighter, on Wednesday (April 8), Rodriguez posted a clip of himself to his Instagram story accompanied by the caption: "Release day."

Before the post, over the past eight months, several fans had questioned where Rodriguez was, given the fact that he is currently on a three-fight win streak, having defeated Alex Morono, Santiago Ponzinibbio and Holland between October 2024 and July 2025.

The American’s presence on social media completely disappeared, and he was not spotted in any photographs at his gym. There was also no record of him speaking to journalists.

Neither the fighter’s management nor the UFC have officially commented on Rodriguez’s absence from the sport.

But at long last, last week he collaborated on a social media post promoting a tattoo studio.

And despite Rodriguez seemingly only being a free man for a matter of hours, his last opponent, Holland, wasted no time in calling him out and even claimed that he was the person who “bailed him out”.

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Speaking to Full Send MMA, Holland said: “I needed to get this dub right here and then I needed to fight ‘D-Rod’, so I had to bail him out. He can get through this probation period and then, when it’s time for me to fight again, he’ll be ready… I went back and watched that fight — I don’t know how the f*** I lost. Run that back two or three more times. It was a fun fight too, the fans had a blast. We had blood in the Octagon, we had knockdowns, all the good stuff.”

The 33-year-old welterweight will first have to overcome Randy Brown at UFC 327 in Miami on April 12 before he sets his sights on a rematch with Rodriguez.

Fans were quick to offer their thoughts on Rodriguez’s release on social media.

One said: “No way he was fr locked up over there.”

Another added: “No f****** way Daniel Rodriguez from the UFC was actually in jail in Mexico.”

A third claimed: “Kevin Holland wasn’t joking, he actually bailed out D Rod.”