Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez has been arrested for attempted murder after a shooting incident in San Jose.
“Cain Velasquez was the suspect arrested yesterday in connection with this incident,” the San Jose Police Media Relations department confirmed today. “He was booked into Santa Clara County main jail for attempted murder.
The motive and circumstances surrounding this incident are still under investigation at this time.”
A previous statement on Twitter from the department had revealed that the victim was an adult male who was, “shot at least once,” and had been, “transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries. One suspect in custody. Unknown motive or circumstances.”
The 39-year-old Velasquez was at one time considered among the all-time greats of the heavyweight division, with his mix of dominant wrestling and dangerous striking having helped him win the belt on two separate occasions, convincingly defeating the likes of Brock Lesnar, Junior dos Santos and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira inside the distance along the way.
However, after compiling a 13-1 career run, Velasquez became plagued by injuries in the prime years of his career, resulting in lengthy spells on the sidelines and underwhelming performances on the rare occasion when he did compete, resulting in two losses from his final three fights before fading away from the sport in 2019.
Since then Velasquez has dabbled in pro-wrestling with the likes of WWE and Lucho Libre AAA, but it was believed that his injury issues would keep him from a return to the Octagon.
