Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez Charged With Attempted Murder

Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez was arrested and charged with being reportedly involved with a non-fatal shooting.

Velasquez is charged with attempted murder and was booked into Santa Clara County jail in California, the San Jose Police Department announced Tuesday morning. The 39-year-old is being held without bail, according to online records.

On Monday, police said there was a shooting in San Jose near the intersection of Monterey Highway and Bailey Avenue. Reports said one adult male was shot at least once, sustaining non-life-threatening injuries. He was transported to a hospital.

On Tuesday, police identified Velasquez as the shooter.

“The motives and circumstances surrounding this incident are still under investigation at this time,” the San Jose Police public information said on their Twitter account.

Velasquez is a two-time former UFC heavyweight champion and is regarded as one of the best heavyweights in UFC history. He held the title in 2010 and 2011, then from 2012 to 2015.

His resume includes wns over Junior Dos Santos, Antonio Silva and Brock Lesnar.

He retired from MMA in 2019 after a loss to current champion Francis Ngannou and has been coaching at his longtime gym American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose.

Velasquez returned to action through professional wrestling, first in Mexico, where his parents were born, and then in WWE. He was released by the WWE in 2020 during the pandemic, but returned through AAA, a Mexican Lucha Libre promotion.