Overview
- Rodriguez says he was arrested after a post-fight trip to Tijuana when border officers found roughly an ounce of marijuana in his backpack and that what he expected to be a short detention became an extended federal case.
- He reports spending about 10 days in an overcrowded processing cell with bedbugs before a guard tried to charge him $7,000 to move to better accommodations.
- Rodriguez says an inmate who identified himself as a cartel leader then moved him to a separate, better-equipped section after Rodriguez paid $3,000 and that he acted as the leader’s protection while jailed.
- During the eight months inside, Rodriguez says he improvised training gear, arranged pad work with a cellmate who had boxing experience, and recorded workouts to try to stay fight-ready for a planned return.
- Rodriguez is now out of the Tijuana facility and is scheduled to headline UFC Belgrade on August 1, with his public interviews offering first-person details that have not been independently verified by officials.