UFC fighter tells Joe Rogan he paid $3,000 to get upgrade in Mexican prison

UFC star Daniel Rodriguez has gone into depth about his eight-month stint in a Mexican prison during an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience.

Rodriguez, who last fought Kevin Holland at UFC 318, appeared to disappear shortly after his bout before it later became clear that he had been serving time in a Mexican prison.

After his release in April, ‘D-Rod’ explained how he’d been “in a cage in Tijuana” due to marijuana possession, with the drug still illegal in the North American nation.

Now, two months on, he has opened up about his experience behind bars during an in-depth conversation with American podcaster and UFC commentator Joe Rogan.

The fighter said he had been celebrating his victory over Holland and decided to cross the California border into Mexico.

“So, [I] decided to go to TJ for the night, you know,” he said. “Go celebrate my win. And I was obviously in celebration mode. And I had an ounce of weed in the car. I've been across the border a hundred times, bro. Never had any issues, never had any problems, never got stopped or pulled over. That's the last thing I would even think of.”

“I thought [weed was legal in Mexico] too,” Rodriguez continued. “Apparently not, man. The laws are, like, crazy strict over there. I've been in situations before where I could just offer some money and get out of the situation. Like 500 bucks at the most, you know, they'll just let me go on my way.”

'I got the feeling I was his protection'

The 39-year-old welterweight, who is on a three-fight UFC winning streak after beating Alex Morono, Santiago Ponzinibbio and Holland, then explained how he was almost conned into paying $7,000 by a guard who suggested he could transfer to a more luxurious cell. The fighter also detailed how a cartel leader forced him to pay $3,000 to be his cellmate, while the UFC star also acted as his personal bodyguard during his eight-month stint.

He added: “The guards came and pulled me out and put me into a completely different section — the third floor in the second building. So, I go up there, escorted by guards, and there is this curtain covering the tier, and I’m like, ‘What the f**k is going on?’ I get in there and they pull me to this dude, and he’s like, ‘Oh, you’re a UFC fighter?’

“It turns out he’s the head of a cartel — a cartel leader. And he wanted to show me and tell me how they were running things. This dude had it made: a TV in his cell, a PlayStation, all the amenities you can think of. He told me he runs it here and said, ‘This is our home.’

“I got the feeling I was his protection — we would go to the yard, and he’d tell me to walk with him.

“I got the impression that because I was his cellmate, I had his back and he had mine. I really trusted him, and that’s a hard thing to do in jail, but you catch vibes off people really easily.”

Rodriguez returns to action against Uros Medic in the main event of UFC Fight Night Belgrade on August 1.

‘They were trying to give me six years’

Despite serving eight months, Rodriguez got off lightly, with the 39-year-old claiming the Mexican authorities wanted to give him a six-year sentence.

“Six years. And we had to do all kinds of stuff for me to get out,” he added.

“Hunter [Campbell] got involved. My management did reach out to Hunter and they couldn't do anything. I learned real quick how corrupt the system is over there. Everybody's trying to get paid.

“The reason I was in there so long is, I guess, at the time I got arrested, the whole judicial system was going through an election. So there were new judges. All the judges who were taking bribes and stuff before had been replaced. So, the new judges who were there were like, ‘All right, we just got here. We're not trying to take any, you know, we're trying to play it by the book and get comfortable.’

“So, I was supposed to get released in December.”