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‘They need to make a movie out of this, bro’: Daniel Rodriguez grateful to get UFC Belgrade headline spot after 8 months in Mexican prison

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7 hours ago

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‘They need to make a movie out of this, bro’: Daniel Rodriguez grateful to get UFC Belgrade headline spot after 8 months in Mexican prison

Daniel Rodriguez has had a crazy year, and now he gets to return to doing what he loves most when he faces Uros Medic in the main event of UFC Belgrade this Saturday.

“Man, I'm super excited,†Rodriguez told MMA Fighting. “I'm feeling very grateful and fortunate to be here, man. It's been a long road and I'm excited to fight on Saturday.â€

In April, Rodriguez was released from a Mexican jail after being imprisoned for eight months due to an arrest at the border when he was caught in possession of marijuana. “D-Rod†gets a massive opportunity riding a three-fight win streak, including a decision win over Kevin Holland a year ago in a wild battle at UFC 318.

Rodriguez was asked if he had doubts he'd ever fight again while sitting behind bars.

“Yeah, man, 100 percent,†Rodriguez said. “There was a moment in time where I wasn't sure if I was going to get out and be able to continue my career. They wanted to actually give me a couple years, man, and if that was the case, I knew for sure my career was over.

“It was an emotional roller coaster in there, especially coming off a huge win, the biggest win of my life, and then to be thrown in a jail cell and not knowing, what was going to happen was definitely super stressful. But there was a small part of me that told me like, things were going to work out, and that's what kept me motivated to train, and to continue to work out and try to do anything possible to stay in shape. I just had faith that I'd be able to do this. And sure enough, and now I'm headlining the UFC event. It's a dream come true, man.â€

The 39-year-old got a late start in the game as he didn't step into his first MMA gym until he was 25. He parlayed that into a 10-4 record in 14 octagon appearances, which also includes wins over Mike Perry and Kevin Lee, while getting valuable experience along the way.

Rodriguez learned even more about himself while in prison, and now sees things in a much different way.

“I'm a survivor, man,†Rodriguez explained. “I can overcome any situation that you could throw at me. If I could take anything from that experience is just loving life and living a life to its utmost potential. I'm grateful to be here and I'm lucky. Man, I'm lucky.

“I was in there with people that are never getting out, and it made me appreciate my life so much more. And I'm here now, and days away from one of the biggest fights in my life and I come out with the victory this Saturday, and I'm going to start trying to pitch my story to Hollywood, man. They need to make a movie out of this, bro.â€

Medic gets the hometown headline spot as he attempts to play spoiler to Rodriguez's comeback story. “The Doctor†is also riding a three-fight win streak, finishing all of his opponents in the first round. In his most recent outing, Medic destroyed perennial welterweight contender Geoff Neal in just 79 seconds.

Rodriguez has been through much worse than being the away team in a UFC fight, which is why he believes getting his hand raised will be as memorable a moment as he's ever experienced.

“When I get my hand raised, I don't really know how I'm going to feel,†Rodriguez said. “I'm just going to know that I've been through a lot this past year, and it's been ups and downs. And to go out there and get my hand raised on Saturday, man, it's definitely going to be like my greatest victory ever. Just for the fact that I came back, and the feeling that I have right now, it's a great feeling.

“Because when I first got out of jail, I was struggling, man. It was so hard to get back into shape and I just trusted all the hard work that was ahead of me and I knew that I was going to be able to get back in shape. And sure enough, man, I just bit down on my mouthguard, man and just trusted the process and getting my hand raised on Saturday is going to make it all come together, man.

“This whole process, it's been a battle, man. And I'm grateful to be here and I can't wait to go out there on Saturday and just put my heart out on the line again, man.â€

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MMA

UFC 330 has a backup plan, and it’s a 19-0 welterweight

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1 hour ago

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July 29, 2026

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UFC 330 has a backup plan, and it’s a 19-0 welterweight
The
Ultimate Fighting Championship has a contingency plan in place
for the UFC
330 main event.

Undefeated welterweight contender Michael
Morales has been tabbed as the official backup for the
championship bout between Islam
Makhachev and Ian Garry,
which headlines UFC 330 on Aug. 15 at Xfinity Mobile Arena in
Philadelphia.

Michael Morales becomes UFC 330 backup for Islam Makhachev vs.
Ian Garry title fight

Morales (19-0) has confirmed that he has been instructed to make
championship weight (170 pounds) and remain on standby should
either Makhachev (28-1) or Garry (17-1) be forced to withdraw due
to injury, illness or any other unforeseen circumstance.

The assignment marks another significant milestone for the
Ecuadorian prospect, who has rapidly emerged as one of the
division’s top contenders. Morales has remained unbeaten through
seven Octagon appearances and secured the biggest victory of his
career with a first-round knockout of Sean Brady
in November last year.

The
Dana White's Contender Series alum has also built significant
momentum, in terms of both results and popularity, winning three
consecutive Performance of the Night bonuses in his last three
outings.

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MMA

Sean Strickland warns young fighters about the reality of UFC life

Published

3 hours ago

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July 29, 2026

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Sean Strickland warns young fighters about the reality of UFC life
Sean
Strickland has slammed fighter compensation in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Strickland recently detailed the financial plight of newly signed
UFC fighters. The outspoken reigning middleweight champion also hit
out at a UFC matchmaker and some of the promotion's practices that
have rubbed him the wrong way.

UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland says aspiring
fighters should understand the financial challenges of MMA

During a recent appearance on the “Shawn Ryan Show,†Strickland
offered a blunt assessment of the life of the average UFC athlete,
arguing that entry-level contracts and the financial realities of
competing in the Octagon leave many fighters struggling to make
ends meet despite reaching MMA's biggest stage.

“When you're a fighter, you're so f*cking poor,†Strickland said.
“Even in the UFC. UFC guys, they're signing guys at like, 10 and
10, [$10,000] to show, [$10,000] to win, $20 grand. So, then you
pay off your manager, you pay taxes; if you lose, you only get like
eight, seven grand.â€

According to Strickland, the financial challenges become even more
severe when injuries or inactivity enter the equation. While he
acknowledged that the UFC provides life-changing opportunities for
many international fighters, he described the promotion's pay
structure as “predatory,†particularly for athletes based in the
United States.

Strickland also criticized the UFC's matchmaking process, claiming
fighters often feel pressured to accept short-notice bouts because
declining them can lead to lengthy layoffs. He then singled out
longtime UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby, saying fighters often fear
turning down opportunities because of the possibility of being
sidelined for months.

“This guy [Shelby] is so f*cking brutal,†Strickland added. “You
could have a boring fight or something, and this mother*cker will
bench you for like eight months. Or you could say, ‘Hey Sean, I
want a fight.' He'll call you two weeks out from a fight… And if
you say no, he'll bench your ass. Yeah, the UFC is f*cking
brutal.â€

Strickland even suggested he'd discourage aspiring fighters from
pursuing a UFC career, though he stopped short of dismissing the
opportunities the organization has provided him. Despite his
criticism, Strickland acknowledged the opportunities the UFC has
provided.

“As much as I hate the UFC and I knock on them, they give people
opportunity you'd never have,†Strickland concluded. “I'd never
have opportunity.â€

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MMA

Dakota Ditcheva clarifies retirement timeline: ‘I don’t want to be in a position where I can’t let go of fighting’

Published

5 hours ago

on

July 29, 2026

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Dakota Ditcheva clarifies retirement timeline: ‘I don’t want to be in a position where I can’t let go of fighting’

Dakota Ditcheva has become the face of the PFL, and one of the most marketable fighters in the sport, but even as she hits the prime of her career at 27 years old, she's already thinking about the day she calls it a career.

As she prepares for her return to action for the first time in over a year after dealing with injuries, Ditcheva recently mentioned that she was eyeing retirement by 32, but that's not exactly a steadfast deadline. Instead, Ditcheva clarified those remarks by explaining why she's even talking about retirement at this stage of her career, especially as she's just now starting to reach her true potential.

“I think that is what I've seen my whole life is fighters say ‘you know I'm just fighting basically for the money now' or ‘I'm fighting just because I can't let go of it,'†Ditcheva explained when speaking to MMA Fighting. “I don't want to be in a position where I can't let go of fighting. I want to be able to love other things at the same time. That's my goal. I'm not saying 32, but I do want a family and children, and that's a very hard thing to build when you're putting so much into your career.

“I live a single life, all the time, it's so difficult to even think about one day having a family and it's important to me. I feel like I have to have that cutoff in the back of my mind to be like, I can be done with it at this age and move onto something else. I don't want to be one of them people that's like oh yeah, I'm going to retire and then has to come back until I'm 38. I don't want to do that.â€

Ditcheva definitely has a lot more she wants to accomplish in the sport before she retires, but she's also well aware that even some of the best fighters in the history of the sport struggle to walk away when it's time.

She learned a valuable lesson about the difficulty she might face one day when thinking about retirement after she ran through the PFL women's flyweight tournament, which crowned her as champion at the end.

“I feel like us as fighters are never satisfied,†Ditcheva said. “I felt it already winning a PFL world championship tournament. I thought I was going to be like oh my god, I've got this crazy feeling like I've done it! I was over it in two days. Our careers are always going to be like that. We're going to have this really big high and then it's like now what?â€

Ditcheva has also gained a lot of valuable advice about the right time to walk away from fighting from her mother, who was a multi-time kickboxing champion during her own career.

“My mom's always made it really clear to me that one of her biggest mistakes was she never set herself [up] for after fighting,†Ditcheva said. “That's why she says to me now ‘you've got to know your worth, you've got to get paid right, you've got to go into business and put your money in the right places' and also you want to be a public figure that can go into other things like commentating, or I can run a gym afterwards, or I can do a bit of modeling somewhere, or I can be an actor. That's kind of where I'm at with all this.â€

Right now, Ditcheva is solely focused on her next fight at the PFL New York City card in July and then hopefully getting more active after missing so much time with a hand injury.

But acknowledging that she doesn't want to fight forever just makes Ditcheva that much more motivated to accomplish everything she wants before time runs out.

While she's not saying 32 years old is definitively when she's done with fighting, Ditcheva also doesn't want to overstay her welcome or stick around MMA for the wrong reasons.

That's why she's already thinking about a future beyond MMA but that's still years away from now.

“I don't want to be 32 thinking yeah, I'm going to retire and now I'm like now what?†Ditcheva said. “I want to set a time and OK I'm 32, I'm done, let's move onto something else or 33, that type of thing. I just want to not be a person that's going to be here forever.â€

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