{"id":477160,"date":"2026-02-15T20:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T20:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/477160\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T20:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T20:42:08","slug":"former-ufc-champ-cain-velasquez-released-from-prison-on-parole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/477160\/","title":{"rendered":"Former UFC champ Cain Velasquez released from prison on parole"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Brett OkamotoFeb 15, 2026, 02:25 PM ET<\/p>\n

Close<\/a>Brett Okamoto has reported on mixed martial arts and boxing at ESPN since 2010. He has covered all of the biggest events in combat sports during that time, including in-depth interviews and features with names such as Dana White, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz, Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and Georges St-Pierre. He was also a producer on the 30 for 30 film: “Chuck and Tito,” which looked back at the careers and rivalry of Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. He lives in Las Vegas, and is an avid, below-average golfer in his spare time.<\/p>\n

Multiple Authors<\/p>\n

Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez<\/a> was released on parole from California state prison on Sunday, after spending the last 11 months in custody, his longtime agent Mike Fonseca confirmed to ESPN.<\/p>\n

Velasquez was sentenced to five years in prison in March 2025, after pleading no contest to charges related to a shooting that took place in February 2022. At the time of the sentencing, Velasquez was credited for 1,283 days served.<\/p>\n

The charges stemmed from an incident in which Velasquez, 43, chased after and repeatedly shot at the vehicle of Harry Goularte, a man accused of molesting his 4-year-old son. Goularte’s father, who was with him in the vehicle, was shot and injured during the 11-mile chase. Velasquez was granted $1 million bail and placed on house arrest in November 2022.<\/p>\n

Goularte continues to face a felony charge of lewd acts with a minor. Velasquez has also filed a civil case against him.<\/p>\n

Velasquez won the UFC’s undisputed heavyweight championship by knocking out Brock Lesnar<\/a> in October 2010. He made many championship appearances, fighting out of the acclaimed American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose. He retired from MMA in 2019.<\/p>\n

Following his arrest, the UFC offered its public support of Velasquez, including a letter from CEO Dana White to the court, which described him as a “model example of how a professional athlete should carry himself.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brett OkamotoFeb 15, 2026, 02:25 PM ET CloseBrett Okamoto has reported on mixed martial arts and boxing at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477161,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,638,82],"class_list":["post-477160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}