Daniel Rodriguez (born December 31, 1986) is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Welterweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
A professional mixed martial artist since 2015, Rodriguez has also competed in Bellator, King of the Cage, and Combate Americas.
According to Rodriguez, he grew up in Los Angeles in a gang affiliated family, alternating between the hood and jail system while continuously getting into fights in both.
[6] Without any sports background, Rodriguez began training boxing and eventually mixed martial arts in his mid-twenties.
[7] Rodriguez later began his professional career in 2015, competing mainly in Combate Americas, with a one off fight at Bellator 170.
Eventually racking up an 8–1 record,[8] he competed on Dana White's Contender Series 22,[9] however he did not earn a UFC contract through his unanimous decision win against Rico Farrington.
[12] Rodriguez made his promotional debut on February 15, 2020 at UFC Fight Night 167 as a late replacement for Ramazan Emeev against Tim Means.
[15] Rodriguez was expected to face Kevin Holland on May 30, 2020 at UFC Fight Night: Woodley vs. Burns.
However, on May 26, Holland was forced to withdraw from his scheduled bout with Daniel Rodriguez due to an injury[16] and he was replaced by promotional newcomer Gabriel Green.
[19] Despite making the required weight, Sato was not cleared to fight by Nevada State Athletic Commission medical personnel and he was replaced by Dwight Grant whose opponent, Calen Born, was pulled from the same event for undisclosed reason.
[35] However, the day of the weigh-ins, Khamzat Chimaev missed weight for his welterweight main event bout with Nate Diaz by seven-and-a-half pounds.