Daniel Rodriguez will walk out at the Belgrade Arena on Saturday night having never headlined a UFC card before. He is 39, twenty-five professional fights deep, and this is the first time his name sits at the top of a poster.He is also coming off the longest gap of his career – well over a year since he last competed. That gap wasn’t an injury layoff. Rodriguez spent eight months detained in a prison in Tijuana, Mexico, after being stopped at the border with marijuana. Speaking about the experience on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, he said the population inside was unlike anything he had dealt with before, describing his fellow inmates as among the toughest he had encountered in a jail setting.That stretch, he said, is part of what changed his approach heading into this camp.“My preparation for this fight was definitely a lot more focused,” Rodriguez told Timesofindia.com. “After such a long layoff, I have a much greater appreciation for this opportunity. This time around, I knew it was going to take a lot more work because this is my first main event, and I wanted to make sure I was in the best shape possible.”The welterweight division has moved while he was away. Islam Makhachev now sits at the top of the pound-for-pound conversation as a two-division threat, and Rodriguez has been watching from the outside.“Since I’ve been away, I’ve seen a lot of changes in the division,” he said. “The top five has changed quite a bit, with Islam Makhachev as the champion. He’s really the only wrestler at the top, and I think the rest of the division is made up of strikers.”The opponent waiting for him now, Uroš Medic, is fighting in his home country for the first time in the UFC, carrying a finishing streak that reads 13 wins, 13 finishes, three of them inside the opening round.
Medic is one of those strikers, and the first round is where he has made his living. Rodriguez brought it up unprompted before being asked directly.“I definitely think Uroš is a first-round fighter,” he said. “A lot of his finishes have come in the opening round, so I believe making it out of the first round will work in my favour for the rest of the fight.”His own fights tend to run the other way – slow builds that get heavier as they go, three-round wars against Kevin Holland and Kelvin Gastelum among them.“Part of the game plan is to make it through the first round,” he said. “We definitely believe that as the fight goes on, that’s where I’m stronger. My previous fights have shown that I get better as the fight progresses. So the plan is to weather the storm in the first round, pick him apart, and use my jab.”Then there is the building itself. This is the first UFC event ever staged in Serbia, and Medic will have the entire arena behind him. Rodriguez has been asked about hostile crowds before – he shrugged it off the same way this time.“It doesn’t change my approach at all,” he said. “I’ve been in situations where I’ve fought the hometown guy before. If anything, it gives me even more motivation. I never really feel the crowd’s presence during the fight – it’s just energy, and I use that energy.”He has already looked past Saturday once, telling reporters in the build-up that a win here should lead him toward Leon Edwards. Asked to explain the logic, he laid it out plainly.“I think it’s a great matchup for me,” he said. “Our fighting styles make sense against each other, and Leon is in a good position in the rankings. A fight with him would put me in a very good position as well. A win here will definitely open up a lot more opportunities for me, so I think calling out Leon Edwards makes sense. It’s definitely a winnable fight for me,” he added. Watch UFC Fight Night – Medic vs Rodriguez on August 1, 2026, from 10:30 PM IST live on Sony Sports Ten 1 SD & HD & Sony LIV.
