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.
According to what was reported by NBC Bay Area later in the day. Velasquez may have targeted a man who is suspected of abusing a family member.
Last week, Harry Eugene Goularte was arrested at a daycare center in San Martin. He faces charges of lewd acts with a child, but he has not been detained. Law enforcement sources and family members told NBC that the alleged victim is related to Velasquez.
It is then alleged that Goularte was with his father in the vehicle targeted by Velasquez on Monday. The father was hit, but he would not suffer life-threatening injuries.
Velasquez is being held without bond. His court date has been set for Wednesday.
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.
