Cain Velasquez on missing his family during prison time
Cain Velasquez's prison stint was one of the darkest periods of his life, and he has since revealed that all he thought of behind bars was his family.
Back in 2022, Cain Velasquez was arrested in Santa Clara County, California after perpetrating a hit and run. While he was targeting Harry Goularte Jr., a man alleged to have sexually abused Velasquez's young son, he instead shot the man's stepfather. Velasquez was later charged with attempted first-degree murder and served time both in county jail and under house arrest before being sentenced, in March 2025, to five years in prison and four years of supervised probation. However, this year on Feb. 15, he was granted early parole and has since spoken about how much he missed his family.
Cain Velasquez reflects on time lost in prison
Renowned MMA journalist Ariel Helwani released a recent short film about Cain Velasquez. The film, however, is a more personal narrative that has little to do with his MMA career beyond how it helped him grow as a person. What the film truly touches on is Velasquez's change in perspective, and the darkest chapter of his life. When it comes to his incarceration, he revealed that what he thought about most was returning to his children (14:00):
"The things that I was dreaming about in prison, like going to my kids' sports, sporting events, going to their practices, like being in that moment and just sitting there and thinking back to that like, 'Wow. This is what I dreamed about right here. It's to watch them do this.' I'm living my dream."
During his MMA days, Velasquez was a dominant force in the UFC heavyweight division, where he was a two-time champion and regarded by many, at the time, as possibly the greatest heavyweight ever. He had a memorable trilogy with Junior dos Santos, who handed him his first-ever loss at UFC on Fox 1, knocking him out in round one. However, Velasquez avenged the loss with a brutal five-round beatdown at UFC 155, where he won via unanimous decision, and another masterful performance at UFC 166, where he won via TKO in round five.
Unfortunately, Velasquez's career was derailed by persistent injury problems, and his last MMA fight was a first-round knockout loss to Francis Ngannou at UFC on ESPN 1. Afterward, Velasquez had a short stint in professional wrestling, even wrestling Brock Lesnar, who he beat in MMA via first-round TKO at UFC 121, at WWE's Crown Jewel in 2019. Now, in 2026, Velasquez is at peace with himself and has little interest in returning to combat sports.
