Two-time UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez has been handed a five-year prison sentence after being convicted of a shooting incident in 2022.
Velasquez was found guilty on attempted murder charges after he engaged in a high-speed car chase and then fired shots at Harry Goularte, who was accused of sexually molesting Velasquez’s four-year-old son on “multiple occasions,” according to Yahoo Sports.
Goularte received a non-life-threatening wound to his arm in the incident, but his truck ended up riddled with bullets, determined to have come from a firearm owned by Velasquez.
Santa Clara County, California, Superior Court Judge Arthur Bocanegra presided over the case that has been winding through the courts for three years, during which Velasquez was found guilty on ten firearms counts. But the judge also expressed much sympathy for Velasquez over his desire to protect his child.
BREAKING: UFC champ Cain Velasquez was sentenced to 5 years in prison, with 1,283 days credit for time served. The judge was choked up and had tears in his eyes. He said keeping a son from his father was the worst punishment, and he gave Cain the lightest possible sentence. pic.twitter.com/tnqPaHZtiQ
— Amy Larson (@AmyLarson25) March 24, 2025
The former UFC champ had expressed remorse for trying to take justice into his own hands.
“What I did was not correct,” Velasquez said on a podcast with Kyle Kingsbury. “I understand that. I paid and I’ll pay whatever else as far as what I have to do to pay all that back. I don’t think I can pay that back, but I can always learn from my mistakes and help others. It’s just information that you never know anybody. Trust your kids. Have that open communication with your kids.”
He added, “[But] the way that I handled things was not the way to do it. We cannot put the law in our own hands.”
The five-year sentence was reduced by the 1,283 days already served.
Goularte is also standing trial after being accused of lewd acts with a minor. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
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