Overview
- Rodriguez says border officers found marijuana in his backpack after a post-fight trip to Tijuana following his win over Kevin Holland, and that discovery led to his arrest and criminal detention.
- He describes spending about 10 days in an overcrowded processing cell before being moved into a separate, better-equipped section of the jail.
- Rodriguez says an inmate who identified himself as a cartel leader charged him $3,000 to become his cellmate and that he acted as the man's protection over the eight-month stay.
- While detained Rodriguez says he kept training with makeshift equipment and has since been released and booked as the main event at UFC Belgrade as he resumes his career.
- These details come from Rodriguez's interview on the Joe Rogan podcast and MMA reporting; the accounts have not been independently verified and they highlight how Mexican marijuana enforcement and informal prison economies can produce extended detentions.