Former UFC heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez arrested on attempted murder charge

Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez faces charges of attempted murder after a shooting in California.

The San Jose Police Department confirmed the 39-year-old has been booked into jail on Monday night and is being held without bail. He is due to appear in court on Wednesday.

Police said there was a shooting in San Jose on Monday and one man had been taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Police have identified Velasquez as the alleged shooter.

“Cain Velasquez was the suspect arrested yesterday in connection with this incident,” San Jose Police said in a statement on Twitter. “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.”

Velasquez beat Brock Lesner for the UFC heavyweight title in 2010 and, after losing to Junior dos Santos, reclaimed the championship in 2012. He held on to the belt until 2015 and his last UFC fight came in 2019, when he suffered a knockout loss just 26 seconds into his contest with Francis Ngannou.

After his mixed martial arts career ended Velasquez featured in WWE but was released from his contract in 2020 after the Covid-19 pandemic hit professional wrestling budgets.

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