Cain Velasquez tells in detail About the 2022 shooting and an 11-mile vehicle chase which eventually sent him to prison.
The former two-time Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight champion appeared in the final three-hour episode. The Shawn Ryan Showwhere he recounted that he learned that hethe four-year-old son had allegedly been sexually abused day care.
“My son (told) me things that happened to him at his daycare,” Velasquez said. “I ask questions about what happened. I ask him how long it’s been going on, (and he) says a while. So we’ll do what we have to do. We’ll make a report (and call the authorities.”)
Harry Goularte was arrested in February 2022 and charged with lewd acts with a child under 14. Goularte, a relative of the daycare owner, pleaded not guilty and has denied any wrongdoing. His criminal case has remained in the pretrial phase since Velasquez’s release.
Goularte was released under court supervision two days after his arrest. Velasquez said watching his son and wife deal with the charges left him feeling helpless.
“Seeing my son and seeing all the trauma come out now — seeing him hurt, breaking down, crying — (and) seeing my wife Michelle break down, it hurt me, brother,” Velasquez said. “It was one of the hardest things, if not the hardest, to watch them go through their pain and not be able to do anything.”
Several days later, Velasquez said she took her son to the zoo to provide respite from the situation. After returning home, he went for a drive and suddenly spotted Goularte family members.
“I had never seen him in public, had I? Well, that day I saw them. I saw them,” Velasquez said. “I had a conversation with God again. Well, I said, ‘God, you know what I’m doing. So you make it what you want. You make that result what you want, but you know what I’m doing.”
Velasquez followed their vehicle as they went after Goularte, who was to receive an electronic tracking device.
“I followed them and they immediately went after Harry and got him and got his ankle monitor and I lost it,” Velasquez said. “Whatever you call it. I lost it. The I-King lost the will to live. I didn’t care about dying. Didn’t care. Didn’t care about anything. I was in a different place at that moment. I wasn’t maneuvering within the parameters of what we call normal life. I wasn’t anything else. So I did what I did.”
Velasquez pursued the vehicle for approximately 11 miles, rammed it with his truck and fired several rounds from a .40 caliber handgun. Goularte was not hit, but his stepfather, Paul Bender, suffered non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.
Velasquez said he held everyone in the vehicle responsible for what happened at the daycare, although Goularte was the only occupant facing criminal charges for the alleged abuse.
“All of them could have gotten it,” Velasquez said. “Check out the crime scene photos now. Their truck was shot down. I only hit the stepfather. I punched him in the arm. It could have been much worse, but it wasn’t.
“There was traffic, so innocent people (could have been) hit. I tried not to, but I wasn’t here. I understand that it could have hurt a lot of people who weren’t even involved.”
Velasquez was arrested after a chase and later pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, felonious assault and multiple firearms charges. He was sentenced in March 2025 to five years in prison, with credit for time already served.
44 years old released from prison in February 2026 after serving a sentence under California law. He remains on parole.
