Cain Velasquez sentenced to five years in prison for involvement in 2022 shooting incident

Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez was sentenced to five years in prison in a Santa Clara County courtroom on Monday. In 2024, Velasquez pleaded no contest in relation to a 2022 shooting in California.

In February 2022, Velasquez engaged in a high-speed car chase with a man he accused of molesting the former UFC star’s then-four-year-old son before firing several shots at the vehicle containing the man, missing the intended victim and instead shooting and injuring that man’s stepfather.

Velasquez spent approximately nine months incarcerated before being granted $1 million conditional bail. He then was present at multiple MMA events serving as a cornerman for teammates while awaiting trial. His total time spent in jail was 1,283 days, and the judge credited him for time served on his sentence, which means that Velasquez has roughly 18 months left to serve.

The intended victim, Harry Goularte, is awaiting his own trial on one felony count of lewd acts with a child related to the incident with Velasquez’s child. In January, Goularte was given a trial date of June 2.

Velasquez won the UFC heavyweight championship in December 2012 with a win over Junior dos Santos and successfully defended the title twice. His MMA career came to an end after a knockout loss to Francis Ngannou in 2019. He followed that up with a brief professional wrestling career that included a match with Brock Lesnar in WWE.