Cain
Velasquez has reflected on how life has changed since his
release from prison.
The former
Ultimate Fighting Championship champion was incarcerated after
targeting an individual he accused of molesting one of his young
relatives. He was released earlier this year, but has stayed away
from the limelight. Velasquez has now opened up about his time in
prison and the changes that have followed.
Advertisement
Former UFC champion Cain Velasquez reveals how life changed
after prison
Back in 2022, Velasquez pursued Harry Goularte, a man he accused of
molesting one of his young relatives in San Jose, California. He
even shot at Goularte’s vehicle, but he came away uninjured.
Velasquez was later sentenced to five years in prison for the
incident.
After being released in February upon serving 11 months, Velasquez
has been focused on rebuilding his life. He is currently mentoring
fighters at
American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose.
“I’ve always been a teacher even though I didn’t necessarily think
I was or I didn’t want to,” Velasquez told NBC. “But now I’m taking more on that road of
teaching others, but I’m still looking to learn. In the last four
years of getting things taken away…I’ve always stayed really just
true to myself and how I want to continue with life and that’s
living from a place of love and giving back. It all just starts
with forgiving yourself. Hopefully somebody can see my story and
hopefully that can help them as well. They can learn from my
mistakes as well.”
When Velasquez trains and teaches at AKA, he makes sure to spend
time practicing breathing, which he calls “ascension breath,” to
deal with past traumas.
“The breathing helps you get rid of or work through some traumas,
things that you haven’t let go of, but also the day-to-day, let go
of things in the moment so you can just focus on what you’re doing
here, and that’s the specific form of combat,” Velasquez added.