Cain Velasquez breaks silence on life after prison release

CainVelasquez has reflected on how life has changed since hisrelease from prison.The former Ultimate Fighting Championship champion was incarcerated aftertargeting an individual he accused of molesting one of his youngrelatives. He was released earlier this year, but has stayed awayfrom the limelight. Velasquez has now opened up about his time inprison and the changes that have followed.

Former UFC champion Cain Velasquez reveals how life changedafter prison

Back in 2022, Velasquez pursued Harry Goularte, a man he accused ofmolesting one of his young relatives in San Jose, California. Heeven shot at Goularte's vehicle, but he came away uninjured.Velasquez was later sentenced to five years in prison for theincident.After being released in February upon serving 11 months, Velasquezhas been focused on rebuilding his life. He is currently mentoringfighters at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose."I've always been a teacher even though I didn't necessarily thinkI was or I didn't want to," Velasquez told NBC. "But now I'm taking more on that road ofteaching others, but I'm still looking to learn. In the last fouryears of getting things taken away...I've always stayed really justtrue to myself and how I want to continue with life and that'sliving from a place of love and giving back. It all just startswith forgiving yourself. Hopefully somebody can see my story andhopefully that can help them as well. They can learn from mymistakes as well."When Velasquez trains and teaches at AKA, he makes sure to spendtime practicing breathing, which he calls "ascension breath," todeal 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 goof things in the moment so you can just focus on what you're doinghere, and that's the specific form of combat," Velasquez added.