Former UFC champion jailed for attempted murder
Former two-time UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez was booked into Santa Clara County jail on charges of attempted murder late Monday.
According to the San Jose Police Department, the motive and circumstances surrounding the incident are still under investigation.
Police said Monday an adult male had been transported to the hospital and another was in custody after a shooting at an intesection near Morgan Hill.
The suspect was later confirmed to be Velasquez, a 39-year-old former all-American wrestler at Arizona State and WWE star.
Velasquez lived and trained in San Jose for most of his career. He first won the UFC title with a knockout of Brock Lesnar in 2010.
After losing the belt to Junior dos Santos in the organization’s first-ever network event on Fox in 2011, he reclaimed it in the rematch the following year and held it until 2015. He had just two more fights in the UFC and retired in 2019 after dealing with a series of injuries.
Velasquez then pursued a career in professional wrestling and was with the WWE until he was released in 2020 when the roster was cut during the early days of the COVID pandemic.
The shooting is believed to have happened shortly after 3 p.m.
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.
