Khabib Nurmagomedov, Jorge Masvidal, and other MMA stars react to Cain Velasquez's five-year prison sentence: "Hopefully Trump can somehow pardon him"

Cain Velasquez was recently sentenced by the Santa Clara County court in California to five years in prison for a shooting incident that took place in February 2022. The news sent the MMA community into a frenzy, with many taking to social media to express their support.

Velasquez faced felony, attempted murder, assault, and weapons charges after he chased and repeatedly fired shots at the vehicle of a man accused of molesting his son. One of the bullets notably hit the accused's father, who was with him in the vehicle at the time.

The ex-UFC champion later pleaded no contest to the charges and will receive credit for 1,283 days of time served.

Soon after the news broke, many high-profile MMA personalities took to social media to express their support for the ex-UFC heavyweight champion. Khabib Nurmagomedov issued a three-word reaction and wrote:

"Stay strong lion."

UFC featherweight Bryce Mitchell also shared his take and said in a piece-to-camera video:

"Pardon Cain Velasquez and put these child m*lesters to death. That's what I would do."

Jorge Masvidal shared the hashtag:

"#FREECAIN."

MMA journalist Ariel Helwani shared his thoughts on X, writing:

"Heartbroken for Cain and his family."

UFC welterweight Oban Elliott took to X and wrote:

"FREE CAIN. We can only hope that Dana has spoke to Trump about this. Hopefully, Trump can somehow pardon him - to the dismay of only the poison to our society"

Check out some more reactions below:

Screenshots from multiple X handles.

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Cain Velasquez gets honest about his feelings on 2022 shooting incident

Before the sentencing earlier this week, Cain Velasquez sat down for a chat with his former teammate Kyle Kingsbury on his podcast and opened up about the shooting incident that turned his life upside down.

Speaking on the Kyle Kingsbury Podcast, Velasquez admitted that he wasn't proud of his actions and was willing to accept the court-ordered punishment. He said:

"From what I can say as far as myself, the way that I handled things was not the way to do it. We cannot put the law in our own hands... I’ve already pled guilty, so I’m going to get a sentencing."

He continued:

"I know what I did, and I know what I did was very dangerous to other people, you know? Not just people involved but innocent people... What I did was not correct. I understand that. I paid and I’ll pay whatever else as far as what I have to do to pay all that back." [H/t: MMA Junkie]

Listen to the full podcast below: