Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez was arrested on Monday for attempted murder and has been taken into custody in the Santa Clara County Jail in California, San Jose police said Tuesday morning.
Velasquez is being held without bond. His court date has been set for Wednesday.
San Jose police announced Monday evening that a shooting took place in the city near the intersection of Monterey Highway and Bailey Avenue. Police said an adult male was hit by at least one bullet and taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. On Tuesday, police identified Velasquez as the shooter.
“The motives and circumstances surrounding this incident are still under investigation at this time,” San Jose police said on Twitter.
Velasquez, who is 39, was crowned UFC heavyweight champion twice, holding the title in 2010 and 2011 and again from 2012 to 2015. The California native is considered one of the best fighters heavyweights of all time. Velasquez retired in 2019 and coached at his longtime gym, the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose.
After his stint in the UFC, Velasquez branched out into professional wrestling, first in Mexico, where his parents were born, and later in WWE. He was released by WWE at the start of the pandemic in 2020, but resurfaced for Mexican promotion AAA in December. The plan, according to ESPN sources, was for him to wrestle more this year.
