Cain Velasquez was in prison because he pleaded no contest to attempted murder and related gun and assault charges stemming from a 2022 shooting in Santa Clara County, California, where he chased and fired at a vehicle carrying a man accused of molesting his young son, but instead wounded another occupant of the car.

Why Was Cain Velasquez in Prison? (Quick Scoop)

What actually happened

In February 2022, former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez pursued a truck in Santa Clara County that was carrying Harry Goularte, the man accused of sexually abusing Velasquez’s underage son, along with Goularte’s parents. During this high-speed chase through several Bay Area cities, Velasquez rammed the vehicle with his own truck and fired multiple shots from a .40-caliber handgun at the truck.

One of those bullets struck Goularte’s stepfather (often identified as Paul Bender) in the arm and torso, while Goularte himself was not hit. Velasquez was arrested without incident shortly after the chase.

The criminal charges and conviction

Prosecutors charged Velasquez with:

  • Felony attempted murder.
  • Multiple counts of assault.
  • Weapons and related gun charges tied to the shooting and chase.

In August 2024, Velasquez pleaded no contest to attempted murder and several related charges, which is legally treated like a conviction without an admission of guilt in the way a guilty plea would be. On March 24, 2025, a Santa Clara County judge sentenced him to five years in state prison, plus a period of supervised probation.

Because he had already spent about three years in custody (jail and house arrest) before sentencing, he received credit for time served, significantly reducing the remaining time he needed to spend behind bars.

Why people say it was about “protecting his son”

The case drew massive attention because the man Velasquez targeted, Harry Goularte, had been charged with committing lewd acts on Velasquez’s then-4-year-old son at a child-care facility run by Goularte’s family. Goularte pleaded not guilty to those allegations and awaited his own trial, but for many fans and commentators, the emotional core of the Cain story was a father reacting to alleged sexual abuse of his child.

Supporters framed Velasquez’s actions as vigilante justice and an extreme, illegal response to a horrific situation involving his child. Even UFC CEO Dana White wrote a letter to the court praising Velasquez’s character and how he carried himself as a professional athlete, which shows how divided public opinion was compared with how the legal system had to treat the shooting.

Prison sentence, location, and release

After sentencing in March 2025, Velasquez was first sent to Wasco State Prison in Kern County, a common intake facility for new inmates. In April 2025 he was transferred to the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad, California, to serve the remainder of his five-year sentence. Reports at the time noted that with credit for roughly 1,283 days already served and potential credit-earning programs, he could end up serving closer to two additional years or less in state custody.

By February 2026, California’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation confirmed that Cain Velasquez had been released from the Soledad prison after serving what the agency described as his full sentence “as defined by law,” including time-served credits and other earned credits.

How forums and fans talk about it

On sports and MMA forums, the case has been a heated trending topic since the arrest and especially around his 2025 sentencing. Common themes in those discussions include:

  • People saying they emotionally “understand” why a father would want to attack someone accused of molesting his child, even if they acknowledge the law can’t excuse it.
  • Debates over whether the sentence was too harsh or too lenient, given that an innocent person in the car was shot and seriously endangered.
  • Dark, revenge-style fantasies from some users about what they would have done in his situation, which usually get pushback from others pointing out the legal and moral consequences.

These conversations show why “why was Cain Velasquez in prison” keeps surfacing as a trending topic and forum discussion point: it sits at the intersection of criminal law, parental rage, and the public image of a famous fighter.

Latest news angle (as of early 2026)

As of mid-February 2026, the latest news is that Velasquez has been released from a Soledad, California, prison after receiving credit for the roughly three years he spent in custody pre-sentencing and earning additional credits while incarcerated. Officially, his prison time all ties back to the same core incident: the 2022 car chase and shooting targeting the man accused of abusing his son.

Bottom note: Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.