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Daniel Rodriguez Believes It's His Turn

As one of the most decorated martial artists of all-time, Kathy Long knows a fighter when she sees one.

Daniel Rodriguez was a fighter.

“He walked in and I could see the hunger in his eyes,” said Long. “I saw it, he wanted it.”

What the Los Angeles native wanted was a fresh start in a sport that he knew would take him places his job as a member of the Local 416 ironworkers union couldn’t. He was 25 when he stepped into the TapouT gym in downtown LA, where Long was teaching Muay Thai.