Former UFC champ Cain Velasquez arrested suspicion of attempted murder after SJ shooting, police say

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- Former UFC Champion Cain Velasquez was arrested in connection with a shooting that happened Monday in San Jose, police said.

A man was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after the shooting near Monterey Road and Bailey Avenue.

SKY7 was over the scene which showed several police vehicles around a pick-up truck that had all of its doors open on the side of the road.

Combat Sports Reporter for ESPN Marc Raimondi shared his thoughts on the arrest with ABC7 Tuesday after he had gotten to know Velasquez well following a decade of covering the heavyweight fighter.

Learning the news that Velasquez is now in jail suspected of attempted murder is something he never would've considered.

"MMA is a sport that has a lot of characters, a lot of people from all different walks of life," Raimondi said. "There are some people that get in trouble a lot, Cain Velasquez was never that type of guy. Cain Velasquez is not the kind of guy you expect to be involved in something like this."

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Police arrested Velasquez and the Salinas native was booked into Santa Clara County Jail where he is being held with no bail.

The arrest is being felt throughout the UFC community as well as with fans.

Fans we spoke with who didn't want to appear on camera described Velasquez as a family man who was loved by many.

"Complete shock and surprise," Raimondi said. "I've seen many people say of all the people in this sport, Cain Velasquez, that's a shocking name to be involved in something like this."

Velasquez is one of many major UFC fighters to train at American Kickboxing Academy in South San Jose, a location just a few miles away from where yesterday's incident occurred.

Police say the motive and circumstances surrounding this incident are still under investigation.

"I still feel like there has to be some kind of reasonable explanation as to why this may or may not have happened," Raimondi said. "I can't really speculate on any motives or things like that, I would have no idea."

Velasquez denied our request for interview from jail and will have his first court appearance Wednesday at noon.

The 39-year-old Velasquez is a former two-time UFC heavyweight champion. He retired from fighting in 2019.