Cain Velasquez is no longer behind bars. The former UFC heavyweight champion was released on parole after spending nearly the entirety of the past year in California state prison.
Velasquez was released on Sunday after having pleaded no contest in March 2025 to charges related to an incident where Velasquez took part in a car chase and shot at a vehicle containing Harry Goularte in February 2022. Goularte had been accused of molesting Velasquez’s young son. The shot instead hit Goularte’s father, who was also in the vehicle.
In November 2022, Velasquez was placed on house arrest and granted $1 million bail. After his 2025 no contest plea, Velasquez was credited with 1,283 days served on his five year prison sentence.
Velasquez has since filed a civil case against Goularte, who still faces a felony charge of lewd acts with a minor.
Velasquez won the UFC heavyweight championship in just his ninth professional fight, stopping Brock Lesnar in the first round of their October 2010 bout. At the time, Velasquez was seen as a new breed of heavyweight, blending a strong wrestling background with solid striking and seemingly non-stop cardio.
In November 2011, Velasquez headlined UFC’s Fox debut, defending his title against Junior dos Santos, only for dos Santos to win the fight by knockout in just 64 seconds.
Velasquez would win the title back in a December 2012 rematch with dos Santos and would defend it twice (including stopping dos Santos in their rubber match), before dropping the belt again. The title loss came in June 2015 when Velasquez fatigued uncharacteristically and was submitted by Fabricio Werdum.
Velasquez would only fight twice more, beating Travis Browne before suffering a 26-second knockout loss to Francis Ngannou.
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