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Cain Velasquez is scheduled to go to trial on Sept. 9 to face attempted murder charges, but it’s likely the former UFC heavyweight champion’s court case gets pushed back to a later date.

On Wednesday, a trial readiness hearing was held in Santa Clara County Court in California with Velasquez’s attorney Renee Hessling appearing before Judge Elizabeth Peterson to provide an update as the trial date draws nearer. Hessling indicated that she expects to file for a continuance in the case to get the trial date pushed back from the September start time.

“I would indicate that I am not ready for trial in September,” Hessling told the court. “I have not filed a 1050. As the date gets closer, if I am still not ready, I will file a 1050 that outlines the good cause reasoning.”

A 1050 is the penal code filed by either the prosecution or the defense when seeking a continuance in a court case.

While Hessling indicated that she expects to file for continuance, a judge won’t rule on that until a later date, so for now Velasquez’s trial is still expected to begin on Sept. 9 at 8:35 a.m. local time. The judge ordered that Velasquez must appear at the start of his trial should the start date remain unchanged.

Velasquez, 41, was arrested on Feb. 28, 2022, after allegedly going on a high-speed chase pursuing a car containing Harry Goularte, a man accused of sexually abusing his son at a daycare owned by Goularte’s mother. Velasquez allegedly fired several rounds from a handgun into the vehicle, with Goularte’s stepfather, Paul Bender, being hit by a bullet and sustaining non-life threatening injuries as a result.

Goularte, who was released on bail against the recommendation from the prosecution prior to the alleged car chase, faces separate charges, including one count of lewd acts with a child. A trial-setting date in his case is currently scheduled for July 17.

While he awaits trial, Velasquez remains out on bail after spending several months in jail before a judge ultimately allowed him to return home under conditions set by the court. Since then, Velasquez has returned to coaching at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose and also performed in professional wrestling shows.

The prosecution previously argued against further delays in the trial considering Velasquez was first arrested back in February 2022. During a prior hearing this past February, prosecutors indicated that discussions were ongoing with the defense about a potential resolution to the case, which could result in a plea deal. At this point, no deal has been struck.

If convicted on all charges, Velasquez potentially faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.

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Brian Ortega produced one of the most creative and memorable walkouts in recent history when he and his coaches all marched to the cage accompanied by masks and music inspired by the horror film The Purge. But the true story behind that entrance actually came from a much darker place as he was getting ready to fight Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 266.

It turns out that around the time of that September 2021 main event, Ortega frequently experienced a disturbance of his apartment while preparing to compete for the UFC featherweight title. Unfortunately for the fighter, some noisy upstairs neighbors prevented Ortega from getting the rest that he needed at night after a long day spent in the gym.

“At that time, I was living in an apartment,” Ortega explained during UFC 303 media day. “I had left the house and everything when I separated and there’s this neighbor upstairs [making noise] that every hour, it was like 2 in the morning, 3 in the morning, 4 in the morning, I’m like dude, do you guys go to sleep? What’s going on? Come on now. I’ve got a fight I’ve got to train for, I’ve got a world title, what are you guys doing?

“I was watching some reels or something [on Instagram] and The Purge song came on and I started fantasizing, not the best thing, but if The Purge was real, the first thing I’m doing is I’m going upstairs.”

The Purge is a 2013 horror film, written and directed by James DeMonaco, about a dystopian future where the United States has become almost completely free of crime thanks to a one-night-per-year event called “The Purge,” during which all criminal acts—including murder—are completely legal for 12 hours. In the film, to signal that The Purge has started, loud sirens are sounded across the entire U.S.

After hearing a remix featuring the sirens from The Purge, Ortega started contemplating what he would do if suddenly all crimes were temporarily legalized, particularly in regards to his neighbors.

“I’m not a snitch, I’m not a complainer but dude, I even hit up the landlord like, ‘Yo, can you tell them to be quiet, please?’” Ortega said. “I know they snitched on me before because I’ve been playing with my kids a little too rough. Like I was running around one time and I was like ‘I’m going to kill you!’ and the kids were screaming and they were about to call the cops because they thought I was going to kill my kids. To me it wasn’t that crazy, that’s how we play around, but I never said nothing. Finally, I said hey, these guys or whoever’s up there, I don’t want to be rude but come on now. It feels like they’re dragging something across the floor all night. If you need help, let me know!

“After I complained, I swear it kept happening like they doubled down on it. So that was just in my head like dude, if The Purge was real, I’d go upstairs and just handle business.”

As issues with his upstairs neighbors continued, Ortega just kept going back to that same scenario in his head, which eventually led to the idea that perhaps he could use The Purge to create a really cool walkout for his fight against Volkanovski.

“I don’t know why, I would stay up all night, I’m like The Purge, that song, I found a remix to it and I was like if I had the mask, what mask would I wear to commit these crimes?” Ortega confessed. “How would I approach their house? That was the concept. Just be all hoodied up, with a lighted mask and then I was like what if I walked out to this? Wouldn’t that be dope?”

He ultimately channeled his disdain for his neighbors into his walkout, which included $ 5 masks and a song selection that the UFC actually changed before he walked to the octagon.

“The song I originally had was a little more scary,” Ortega said. “It felt like a little more real. So I was hoping to make everyone in the crowd kind of get scared a bit.”

While the UFC nixed that version of the song, he was still allowed to use a different remix featuring The Purge sirens to create his memorable walkout.

His coaches also wore the exact same outfits and Ortega says everybody in his entourage definitely understood the theme he had in mind.

“I told them I wanted to kill my neighbors. At that time,” Ortega said. “That was the theme and the idea behind that. I called my managers and everyone and told them my idea and they’re like OK, let’s go for it.

“Now it’s one of the best walkouts ever when it’s being a conversation of topics. It worked out.”

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Devin Haney has his undefeated record back, but he’s still not satisfied with the Ryan Garcia situation.

When Haney and Garcia stepped into the ring to box one another this past April, Garcia originally walked out with an exciting majority decision win. However, the bout will forever be shrouded in controversy for both the preceding and proceeding circumstances.

Garcia behaved erratically in the lead-up to the fight, displaying bizarre behavior on his social media and then later coming in 3.2 pounds over the limit for the bout, disqualifying himself from being able to win Haney’s super lightweight title. He defeated Haney on the cards, but the bout was officially overturned to a no-contest as part of the penalty handed down by the New York State Athletic Commission for Garcia failing two post-fight drug tests. Garcia also received a one-year suspension from boxing.

Were it up to Haney, Garcia wouldn’t be allowed back at all.

“I don’t think cheating should be in the sport of boxing,” Haney said on The MMA Hour. “If I felt that, shit, I’d be cheating myself. If you get caught cheating, I think you should be banned. For life. Because we literally we go in and put our life on the line each time we step in that ring and we see guys get killed in the ring.

“He must have felt something, because of all his fights, he never tested dirty, right? But against me, he did. It’s no coincidence. He must obviously have felt the threat from me and all of a sudden he’s acting like we’ve never seen him acting before. He was covering his ass just in case he lost and he was going to play the crazy role.”

Since the news broke of Garcia’s positive drug tests on May 1, the boxer’s team has maintained that he is the victim of a tainted supplement. In a statement, they wrote that samples from two supplements tested by the Voluntari Anti-Doping Agency “returned positive for ostarine contamination,” and that Garcia is innocent. Garcia responded to his suspension by following up on a previous retirement tweet and suggesting he might make a move to compete in the UFC.

Garcia’s antics aren’t the slightest bit amusing to Haney, who has no interest in burying the hatched with his rival even though he claims Garcia has reached out to him.

“He be messaging me on Instagram and shit like that, trying to be cool,” Haney said. “I don’t know, we all know it’s something odd for him feel like it’s cool for him to message me. None of that is going on. For the shit that he did, I want to make him pay for the shit that he did in the ring, out the ring, however.”

With the April 20 bout now officially a no-contest, Haney saw his record restored to 31-0. He is currently on his own hiatus, having recently tweeted that he may not fight again until 2026, when a rematch with Garcia could happen.

First things first, Haney plans to sue Garcia for entering their bout with what he believes was intent to cheat the system.

“Like I said, this whole thing has cost me,” Haney said. “I signed up for a fair fight. I signed a contract for a fair fight where we do drug testing, where we go in and I’m clean and he’s clean, and that wasn’t the case. So like I said, I he must pay for that. When you sign the contract, when he said he’s going to be clean going into the fight and I’m going to be clean, there ain’t going to be nothing in my system, there ain’t going to be nothing in his system, and he didn’t hold up his bargain. He didn’t hold up on his side of that. So he will pay.

“He will pay in the ring. I want to get it back in blood in the ring, but also outside the ring. I’m still a businessman at the end of the day and this is a business.”

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LIVE: UFC 303 media day video stream! Tune in TODAY (Weds., June 26, 2024) at 2 p.m. ET in the embedded video above to watch the Alex Pereira vs. Jiri Prochazka-led media day extravaganza in “Sin City,” held in advance of the upcoming UFC 303 pay-per-view (PPV) on Sat. night (June 29) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Today’s UFC 303 media day is also expected to feature a bevy of main card attractions, including Brian Ortega, Diego Lopes, Ian Garry, and Michael Page, among others.

Check out the complete UFC 303 media day lineup below:

Alex Pereira – UFC light heavyweight champion
Jiri Prochazka – No. 1 UFC light heavyweight
Brian Ortega – No. 3 UFC featherweight
Diego Lopes – No. 14 UFC featherweight
Anthony Smith – No. 10 UFC light heavyweight
Roman Dolidze – UFC light heavyweight
Mayra Bueno Silva – No. 3 UFC women’s bantamweight
Macy Chiasson – No. 7 UFC women’s bantamweight
Ian Machado Garry – No. 7 UFC welterweight
Michael Page – No. 14 UFC welterweight
Joe Pyfer – UFC middleweight
Marc-Andre Barriault – UFC middleweight
Cub Swanson – UFC featherweight
Andre Fili – UFC featherweight
Michelle Waterson-Gomez – No. 14 UFC women’s strawweight
Gillian Robertson – No. 15 UFC women’s strawweight
Paige VanZant – Power Slap women’s striker

UFC 303 media day lineup subject to change.

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 303 fight card right RIGHT HERE, starting with the early ESPN/ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 6 p.m. ET, followed by the remaining undercard balance on ESPN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the UFC 303 PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 303: “Pereira vs. Prochazka 2” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here. For the updated and finalized UFC 303 fight card and PPV lineup click here.

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