Daniel Rodriguez spent the first quarter of 2026 locked away in a Mexican prison.
Now that Rodriguez is once again a free man, thanks to this fellow UFC fighter, “D-Rod” is making up for lost time, linking up with “Foos Gone Wild” and Combate Global for a new amateur MMA series called “Foos Fighting Championship” on April 25.
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It’s like Dana White’s “Contender Series” featuring some of the biggest “foos” in the business.
That includes “Unbreakable” Bobby Liles (0-0), fresh off his stint with a court-mandated ankle monitor. Liles fights Jake “Big Grease” Lleckfelt (1-0), who was nearly greased earlier in his career after getting shot. Elsewhere on the card, Hansol Yi (0-0) returns after “kickflipping a nine-stair” to battle Ryan Pak (0-0), the “sick-ass soccer player from LA High.”
“I’ve been doing my homework on these foos and I already know we’re gonna see some sick fades in La Jaula,” said Lil’ Mr. E, the founder and face of the Los Angeles-based comedy outfit Foos Gone Wild.
La Jaula is the Combate Global Cage.
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Foos Fighting Championship (FFC) will stream live on Samsung TV Plus and YouTube on Sat. night (April 25) at 9:30 p.m. ET. The card will also broadcast live in Spanish in the U.S. on EstrellaTV and Samsung TV Plus. Tickets are currently on sale via Ticketmaster.
“This event puts a fun spin on the sport of MMA, but I think we are also going to see the emergence of a few potential future stars that we wouldn’t necessarily have had an opportunity to look at had we not created this event with Lil’ Mr. E and Foos Gone Wild,” said Combate Global CEO Campbell McLaren.
Rodriguez, a former Combate Global fighter, will serve as color commentator alongside “Concrete” and Ben Davis. “D-Rod” (20-5) will then return to training camp for his upcoming fight at UFC 329 during International Fight Week.
Additional FFC bouts include Joseph Muñoz (2-0) vs. Ariel Huizar (4-3), Carlos Meza (1-0) vs. Rey Rodriguez (0-5), Khachic Vardanian (2-0) vs. Carlos Venebra (0-0), and Erik Berganza vs. Jaeysen Jeff (2-4). FFC will be regulated by California Amateur Mixed Martial Arts Association in accordance with California state regulations.
