Eight months after being arrested on an attempted murder charge, former two-time UFC heavyweight king Velasquez has been released on bail pending further investigations.
Speaking upon his release on November 9, Velasquez stated he "was ready to go home and be with loved ones."
The MMA star was arrested on February 28 in connection with a shooting in San Jose, with Velasquez claiming the man he had allegedly shot had molested his four-year-old son. The man is said to own the daycare centre that the child attended.
Velasquez had been denied bail multiple times and had also sued the man and his family over the incident.
He was however granted a $1million bail on Wednesday.
"I just feel blessed, ready to go home, be with the loved ones, family, friends and make something positive of this whole situation," Velasquez said shortly after leaving jail.
"Thank you to everybody who had my support. I love all of you. Just always continue to be better as a person, always do good things and just make something positive of this terrible situation.
"My family and I, we're going to do that."
Velasquez rose to prominence in the UFC's heavyweight division in 2008, rising through the rankings as part of the infamous American Kickboxing Academy team.
A Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blackbelt, he holds notable wins over Antonio Nogueira (46), Cheick Kongo (47) and Junior dos Santos (38) - as well as his career-defining UFC heavyweight title victory over Brock Lesnar (45) in 2010. His last fight was a defeat to Francis Ngannou (36) in 2019.
After retiring from MMA, Velasquez tried his hand at professional wrestling, featuring briefly in the WWE between 2019 and 2020.
