UFC Belgrade has its headliner.
Promotion officials announced on Monday that Daniel “D-Rod” Rodriguez (20-5) would return at the August 1, 2026 Fight Night event, where he’ll headline opposite Serbia’s own Uros Medic (13-3) in a welterweight fight.
For Rodriguez, it’s the first fight back following a lengthy ordeal that saw him stuck inside a Mexican prison due to marijuana trafficking charges.
That ordeal saw Rodriguez imprisoned for the better part of a year, after being found with weed in his vehicle while crossing into Mexico from the U.S. Now, he gets to pick up where he left off, on a streak that saw him beat three straight.
Most recently, Rodriguez won a unanimous decision over Kevin Holland last July. Despite his time out of action, Daniel Rodriguez remains ranked #15 in the UFC’s 170lb weight class.
During D-Rod’s time away, Uros Medic has managed to ascend to #13 in the welterweight division, and rides a three-fight win streak of his own. All three of those wins came subsequent to Rodriguez’s last action; most recently, Medic knocked out Geoff Neal in February, earning a Performance of the Night bonus in the process.
UFC Belgrade takes place at the Belgrade Arena in Belgrade, Serbia on August 1, 2026 with the following match-ups reported for the card:
- Uroš Medić vs. Daniel Rodriguez
- Ante Delija vs. Johnny Walker
- Marcin Tybura vs. Aleksandar Rakić
- Vlasto Čepo vs. Gilbert Urbina
- Jovan Leka vs. Max Gimenis
- Duško Todorović vs. Robert Valentin