Twelve days before his UFC Singapore co-main event fight with Ovince Saint-Preux, Tyson Pedro was sitting in a dank jail cell inside a Thai prison.

He was handcuffed to a training partner, and the pair were sharing the grimy cell with a couple of strung out junkies and an ice dealer.

Not the ideal setting when you've got a pretty big fight coming up, but he's not using it as an excuse either.

In Thailand to train at Tiger Muay Thai before heading to Singapore, Pedro had only just landed in the coutry when his troubles with the law began.

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"I had prescription medication on me and the police stopped me on my first day and tried to take all my money," Pedro told Sporting News.

"I went 'you're not taking all of that, I'll be f***ed otherwise, so he said 'you don't speak about this' and he took $500 Australian."

Later on after dinner, Pedro jumped on a scooter to ride home - as you do in Thailand - but the police were waiting.

"I rode back and I didn't have a helmet and they stopped me," he said.

"They wanted me to pay them again. I said 'I'm not paying - I've already paid that guy.'

"That's the thing, they spotted me, because they were letting drunk as people ride straight past.

"So, I didn't pay, and they took my ass to jail - 24 hours, no food. No water.

"We were in with an ice dealer who was about to get taken to the main jail, so I think he was about to get the death penalty or something.

"I had two meth-heads who were sick, scratching their faces and going off.

"It was disgusting - a tiny cell and just a s**t-hole.

"So I’m sitting there just thinking what the f**k, and I ended up sparring in my cell and we got in trouble with the cops again."

The authorities wanted to keep him in jail for four days, before connections at Tiger Muay Thai organised to pay a fine and get the number 13 ranked light-heavyweight released.

None of this is an excuse for what happened in the fight, where Pedro lost via submission in the first round.

In fact, the Western Sydney product says the adversity made him even more prepared for the bout.

"All I could think about was how I was going to win this fight with everything stacked against me," he said.

"Plus when I was in Cabo, in Mexico with Cowboy (Cerrone), my card got skimmed for $1000.

"I was getting f***ed left, right and centre in this whole trip, but all I could think about was how I was going to win this fight.

"I was in such a good place. I was the calmest I’ve ever been. Best mental state I've ever been in.

"But that's MMA."

Check out more of what Pedro and UFC heavyweight Tai Tuivasa had to say about their recent fights in the latest episode of The Halfcast Podcast.