Cain Velasquez talks about his jail time after being released on $1M bail

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Cain Velasquez talks about his jail time after being released on $1M bail

Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez is out on bail after a Santa Clara County judge granted it on Nov. 8. He had previously been denied bail three times.

Velasquez posted a $1 million bond after spending eight months behind bars. Earlier this month, he was permitted to travel from California to Arizona under court supervision in order to compete in a Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide pro wrestling match. In an interview with Konnan’s K100 podcast, the former champion detailed what it was like behind bars.

While in jail, Velasquez received an outpouring of support from friends, family, and the MMA community.

“I want to just thank everyone. Like, I truly appreciate everyone’s support in all of it. It means so much to me. It gave me a lot of strength while I was in there,” Velasquez said. “I just want to thank everyone forever for that.”

The 40-year old was arrested on Feb. 28 for allegedly shooting into a vehicle and striking an unintended target. Velasquez was allegedly trying to shoot Harry Goularte Jr., who had been arrested before the incident and accused of child sexual abuse. One of his alleged victims was Velasquez’ young son. Velasquez was charged with multiple offenses including one count of attempted first-degree murder.

On the inside, Velasquez was cut off from the world. Family, friends, and television kept him up to date on current events. While locked up, he was placed in ‘protective custody.’

“So 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,” he explained.

Velasquez has been an athlete his whole life. In jail, he did what he could to remain in shape and took the opportunity to do a lot of reading.

“Physical training, yeah, you would try to definitely do some stuff. We get out three hours a day, and for my workout, I would hit like stairs. There were stairs there, so I would just run stairs for like an hour straight, like some days, and then some days I’d be really into reading,” he said.

Velasquez is potentially facing spending the rest of his life behind bars if convicted of the most serious charges against him. Regardless of what the future holds, Velasquez remains positive.

“My mind ran, like both sides of it, like the bad side and the good side of it. The thing is, we always have to have faith. It doesn’t matter what position we’re in and where we’re at. You’ve always got to look for the best case scenario for us, and just know that our lives are something much bigger and it’s all going to work out for the best. Always,” he said.

For 21 hours a day, Velasquez was inside. He spent most of his time watching television, reading, working out some, and keeping his mind sharp.

“We watched a lot of like cable television throughout the day. I read a lot and worked out a little bit here and there, but mainly I was working on my mind, keeping that strong,” Velasquez said.

“I feel like anything you can learn from. The human body and the human mind is something that is so powerful. We still haven’t unleashed all the powers to it. It doesn’t matter where you’re at, you’re always good. We can go through anything. I read stories in there, like people in the Holocaust and stuff, where it made my situation like, I’m okay, and I’m going to be okay.“

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Cain Velasquez talks about his jail time after being released on $1M bail