Daniel Rodriguez has silently endured a wild eight months in prison during the height of his career in the UFC. Not much was said about his absence from the cage and subsequent prison sentence in Mexico until 'D-Rod' appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast and revealed all.

The 39-year-old was on a respected three-fight win streak before his arrest, with a split decision win over Alex Morono, a TKO stoppage of Santiago Ponzinibbio, and, more recently, the most notable victory of his career over Kevin Holland. The California native burst into the top 15 and had his sights set on some of the killers at 170 lbs before a trip across the border from San Diego to Tijuana had life-changing implications.

Speaking to Joe Rogan about his arrest, Daniel Rodriguez shared previously unknown details about the events that led to his eight-month sentence.

"Yeah, man. [I got arrested] right after the Kevin Holland fight, actually," Rodriguez said. "I was celebrating. I was over in San Diego, had some drinks, and decided, 'You know what? Let's go to [Tijuana]... So, decided to go to TJ for the night, you know. 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 no issues, never had no problems, never got stopped, pulled over. That's the last thing I would even think."

Marijuana legalisation is far from a unanimous verdict across North America. An ounce is considered the standard legal limit for personal possession in California, but any attempt to cross over into Mexico could be met with vehicle seizure, fines, immigration consequences, and, in Daniel Rodriguez's case, prison time.

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

"But I got pulled over at the border, and the border inspection found the weed in my backpack. I was thinking I was going to be in that situation where I could bribe my way out of it because it's Mexico. I've been there before and I've been in these situations. No, man. They took me to jail that night and I was thinking, 'Alright, I'm just going to be here for the weekend. I'll get out Monday and go to court.' And they're like, 'No, we'll see you in a month.' I'm like, 'A month? Why? It's just weed.' You know what I mean? And yeah, eight months later."

Eight months behind bars was a harsh decision for Daniel Rodriguez, but it could have been much worse.

According to the UFC veteran, the Mexican justice system was originally aiming to hand him an outrageous six-year sentence in prison.

"They were trying to give me six years, bro," Rodriguez confirmed. "Six years. And we had to do all kinds of stuff for me to get out. 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 where I got arrested, the whole judicial system was going through an election at the time. So it was new judges. So all the judges that were taking bribes and stuff before, they had switched out the judges. So, the new judges that were there were like, 'All right, we just got here. We're not trying to take no, you know, we're trying to play it by the book and get comfortable... So, I was supposed to get released in December."

Daniel Rodriguez spoke in depth about his trials and tribulations, beginning with his arrest, through to his uncomfortable transportation, to his eventual release.

Now free, Rodriguez is determined to get his UFC career back on track and will be given that opportunity when he faces Uros Medic at UFC Serbia on August 1. Listen to his bizarre arrest story below.