For the first time, former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez has opened up about the eight months he spent in jail after being charged with attempted murder.
In one of the biggest stories of 2022, UFC legend Cain Velasquez was arrested in February for the attempted murder of alleged child molester Harry Goularte. Goularte’s case has yet to be resolved, as has Velasquez’s, who is currently out on bail for $1 million.
After being released on bail, Velasquez made an appearance at a AAA pro wrestling event last month, where he took part in a six-man tag team match. After the bout, Velasquez briefly addressed the audience in attendance, where he expressed his gratitude for the love and support shown to him during these trying times for himself and his family.
Cain Velasquez Opens Up On Time In Jail
During a recent installment of the K100 w/ Konnan & Disco podcast, Velasquez would go in-depth for the first time about the experience of being in jail for eight months (h/t POST Wrestling).
“My mind ran like both sides of it [being positive about getting out versus thinking he’d be serving time straight through]. The bad side and the good side. It’s a thing, we always have to have faith, you know? It doesn’t matter what position we’re in, where we’re at. We always gotta look for the best-case scenario for us and just know that our lives are something much bigger and it’s all gonna work out for the best, always.”
Velasquez also lent some insight into what his daily life was like while in jail, which he describes as isolating. This, Velasquez said, came with both benefits and psychological drawbacks.
“They had me in protective custody. It was very low-key. Only a few people that I was able to kind of hang out with and I guess the good thing about it is you got a lot of alone time with yourself and the bad thing about it was you got a lot of alone time with yourself.”
When delving further into his state of mind, Velasquez juxtaposed that with how he felt when he performed at last month’s AAA Worldwide event after not participating in any athletic event since 2019.
“It was crazy man… Probably the worst I’ve ever felt physically, mentally doing something… I feel like there was such a standstill, my body and my mind.”
“For eight months, just a low way of thinking, versus when you’re out there competing, it’s a different way of thinking, how your brain and your mind have to be firing so, I felt like I was probably in the worst-case scenario for myself that I’ve ever been in and I feel like I always do this, I put a lot of pressure on myself and I just wanna be ready when I go out there and you know, compete and when I did, went out there and did it dude, it was…”
And just as he did after competing, Velasquez also was sure to take a moment to acknowledge the overwhelming support he has received from the public during this time.
“Yeah man, I did [see the support I got from the wrestling & MMA communities] and I have and I just wanna thank everyone. I truly appreciate everyone’s support in all of it. It means so much to me. It gave me a lot of strength when I was in there. So, yeah dude, I feel it and I just wanna thank everybody forever for that.”