Interview by “D-Man,” CTF Inmate Correspondent
Editor’s Note: This marks the final Sundays with Cain episode recorded while Cain was still with us inside.
As many of you know, today — Sunday, February 15th, 2026 — Cain returns home.
After ten months of working alongside D-Man — researching, editing, and helping shape these conversations — this has truly been a labor of love. What began as a simple effort to document a story became something far deeper: a shared journey of reflection, growth, and healing.
We are deeply grateful to Cain for trusting us to help tell his story in his own words.
While this chapter comes to a close, the story continues. Over the next two weeks, we will be releasing special companion interviews with his sister, Adela, and his father, Efrain — offering a deeper look into the family, roots, and experiences that helped shape the man so many of you have come to know through this series.
This chapter may be closing, but the work is just beginning. We look forward to supporting Cain as he steps into his next role — sharing what he has learned and continuing his path through healing work and Holotropic Breathing seminars.
Thank you, Cain — for your openness, your strength, and the impact you’ve made on so many lives.
Sundays With Cain
(The Deer Warrior)Â
If you're reading this, it's likely that you have been following Cain's story. The efforts to tell this tale to the world have been Herculean. Cain has been so gracious with his time. Humbly and thankfully, I cherish every minute spent with Cain. Every word, every look, and especially every tear. These will all stick with me for the rest of my life. Holding those stories and moments with respect, sharing them responsibly, has always been the goal. Making connections between Cain's life and where he is now spiritually found its way into every episode. Hopefully, dominating your thoughts after reading an episode will motivate you to explore a similar experience. The first time you do, then all this work will have been worth the effort. If just one life can be changed from Cain's experiences and knowledge, then the world is better for it. I believe that many more will eventually benefit from Sundays With Cain. It will be up to others and you, the reader, from this point on. I have recorded my last episode with the big guy. To say I will miss him would be the understatement of the year. He has been kind, patient, and willing to listen. Not always agreeing but explaining why. Gentle while teaching, consistently present, and understanding with difficult emotions and even more so with difficult conversations.
Honest, gentle, curious, clumsy, smart, passionate, faithful, reliable, hungry, funny, forgetful, punctual, humble, and loving. These are words used to describe Cain Velasquez. Only by those who get to know the man on the other side of labels. Like a prisoner or a fighter. He is so much more than a label. Cain has also been able to see the men in the prison system here. I believe he sees more in them than the label they have been given or taken upon themselves. Things like gang member, drug addict, thief, murderer, rapist, unwanted, unloved, hopeless, worthless, bad, violent, and evil. Cain is able to see into a person for what they were created as, spiritual beings. Universally connected together with everything in this world in a way that makes everyone a part of everything. We are all connected. Like a chain. The strength of that chain is only as strong as the weakest link.
This week, when we sat down, Cain mentioned that he was nervous about his release. Why? I asked. "There are a lot of unknowns in my life now. I have to remind people and myself that I am going to take things one day at a time. I can't allow myself to look too far ahead. It will overwhelm me, and for no other reason than to attempt to control the future. That's an impossible task, and I won't try. I have to just trust in my path and take what it presents to me". That may be true, and you also want to do things like spend time with your kids and begin teaching workshops for breathing classes and plant medicine. So there is a little bit of planning that needs to take place. What are you doing when you walk out Sunday morning? "Michelle and the kids are going to take me directly to Moss Landing. I am going to swim out into the waves and wash away the prison from my body and my spirit". Then where are you going to eat? "I'm not sure where, but I want one of those tomahawk steaks”! Cain smiles. I feel my mouth begin to salivate. That sounds amazing, and I hope you enjoy it slowly. Don't eat like you're in the chow hall.
I did some research for your story and the Yaqui people. (Cain's look changes. Serious). "What did you find"? You had told me about the Deer Dancer on the license plates in Sonora and how the Yaqui people were saved by a deer when they were starving and at war with those who wanted to take their land. They had no food and were on the verge of death. They began to pray, and the creator eventually sent them a deer. When they saw this deer and ate it, they were able to fight off death. Remaining in their land and living as a united people. The deer becomes a symbol for the Yaqui. They see the deer as a warrior. The dancer is a reminder of its principles. When I read the whole history and story and its principal message, I thought of how much it sounds like you (Cain's smile can literally get no bigger). "What do you mean? Well, for starters, the Deer Dancer is called a spiritual warrior. He conquers himself before ever confronting the outside world. The Deer Warrior is said to live in both the physical realm and the spiritual one. He is able to travel between the two and reminds the Yaqui people of key principles. Teaching not only the Yaqui people, but all people; Walk softly, but be ready. Be humble, but never weak. The Deer Warrior is the protector of balance. Between humans and nature, body and spirit, strength and compassion. This story exists today for the Yaqui to show a person how to become a Deer Warrior themselves in everyday life by living with discipline. Protecting family and community. Respecting the natural world. Training the mind and the spirit, not just the body. It’s a warrior’s path that doesn't start with weapons. It starts with awareness, responsibility, and heart. When I read this, I see you as the Deer Warrior. While watching your interactions and the way you are able to embody these principles, I see a true reflection of yourself in this story. When I get done reading my notes and look up. I see Cain has a far-off look on his face. His eyes are a little moist and red. When just before they had been clear and dry. "I don't think I've ever heard those sayings before". This is what the loss of one's identity looks like. These stories were taken from you by the world moving away from ancient traditions. This is you, though, I read the Deer Warrior being described and reflect on your words over the last year. In getting to know you and learn from you. This is how you live and teach others. "They used to call me, El Toro. (The Bull)". Down in Mexico? "Ya, that's what I was to them". Now you're the Deer. That's what you are to us. It takes a few minutes for us to get back to talking. I think someone came to our table and began talking to us for a minute. But for a little while, we just sat with that thought, moving our heads up and down very slightly. Just processing the profound insight we have come upon and appreciating the weight of the moment. After a few minutes, Cain says, "I can be the Deer that defeats the Bull". That's a working title for the book. Something we could play around with. How about just “The Deer Warrior”? "That's good. There are other guys on the yard that are Yaqui. You should talk to them". I think I will, when I get the chance. There is much more on this topic tucked away, and I'm working through the telling of it.
Next, we moved on to a topic that popped up by accident. Sitting at the table, Cain made a remark about a buggy race in the desert with the "Ice Man" Chuck Liddell. Cain had to change a tire, blah, blah, blah, blah. I quit listening and interrupted him. Wait a minute. You raced sand buggies in the desert with Chuck Liddell, and on our last day of interviews, interviews that we have spent hundreds of hours doing, now I hear this story (Cain laughs and looks sheepish)? "You never asked the question that sparked my memory of this". When was this? "I had just gotten out of county jail on bail. Mark Gross is a good friend and was my first sponsor (Oak Grove Technologies) when I began fighting. Mark also paid for my first lawyer in my legal case, and I can't thank him enough. When he calls me after I get bailed out, he asks me if I would be interested in taking a spot on his Mint 400 race team. I had raced in the Mint with Mark's team three or four years prior. This time, he tells me that Chuck Liddell is already on board. The two of us would be a team for one lap (100-125 miles). This is a team event, and each lap has two new drivers. Mark's main reason for sponsoring a team is to allow military veterans a chance to have an amazing experience. The other team members will all be veterans of the armed services ". Where do you guys stay when you go? "Mark gets an AirBNB where the whole team stays. It's Mark and his girlfriend. Chuck and his wife. Bob Cook and his girlfriend. Then the military vets and I are all there, staying in different rooms". Fucking Bob Cook, I thought he would have made a bigger part in our story. Like forgetting to put the oil cap back on after putting in some oil and blowing the engine up or something. But I was disappointed, and he was unable to deliver a Crazy Bob Cook moment for those Sundays With Cain fans who remember Bob’s follies in our early episodes. Let's get racing. You and Chuck have your eyes set on winning this event, I suspect? "It’s a long race and we are the second leg on the second lap. The first team is a pair of veterans. They get lap one, which l takes three or four hours. Chuck and I walk around the staging area where teams have tents set up to monitor the race. This is where each team can work on the cars when they come in from each lap. We are just talking to the other teams while we wait. The cars all have GPS on them, and we notice that our team has stopped somewhere, and my memory of this ". When was this? "I had just got out of county jail on bail. Mark Gross is a good friend and was my first sponsor (Oak Grove Technologies) when I began fighting. Mark also paid for my first lawyer in my legal case, and I can't thank him enough. When he calls me after I get bailed out, he asks me if I would be interested in taking a spot on his Mint 400 race team. I had raced in the Mint with Mark's team, three or four years prior.
This time, he tells me Chuck Liddell is already on board. The two of us would be a team for one lap (100-125 miles). This is a team event, and each lap has two new drivers. Mark's main reason for sponsoring a team is to allow military veterans a chance to have an amazing experience. The other team members will all be veterans of the armed services ". Where do you guys stay when you go? "Mark gets an AirBNB where the whole team stays. It's Mark and his girlfriend. Chuck and his wife. Bob Cook and his girlfriend. Then the military vets and I are all there, staying in different rooms". Fucking Bob Cook, I thought he would of made a bigger part in our story. Like forgetting to put the oil cap back on after putting in some oil and blowing the engine up or something. But I was disappointed, and he was unable to deliver a Crazy Bob Cook moment for those Sundays With Cain fans who remember Bob’s follies in our early episodes. Let's get racing. You and Chuck have your eyes on winning this event, I suspect? "It’s a long race, and we are on the second leg of the second lap. The first team is a pair of veterans. They get lap one, which takes three or four hours. Chuck and I walk around the staging area where teams have tents set up to monitor the race. This is where each team can work on the buggies as they come in and after each lap. We are just talking to the other teams while we wait. The buggies all have GPS on them, and we notice that our team has stopped somewhere. Eventually, they get moving again, and Chuck and I get ready. When the veteran team comes in the mechanic crew checks the tires and suspension, fills the gas, and cleans the windshield. Chuck and I put on our helmets and can now talk to each other through the built in radios. There is an air hose, so we get fresh air and when we strap on the safety harnesses, we make sure they are a little loose. This lets the force of the tracks' impacts dissipate a little. If you put it too tight the force of some of the bumps will jar your head loose. This track is a very rocky terrain with all types of surfaces. Boulders, sharp jagged rocks, powdered mud, and soft sand. I'm driving and end up hitting something, three-quarters of the way through the lap. Slowly, we begin to lose some traction, but we keep driving. Eventually, the steering wheels turned 90 degrees to go forward. Then I can't even get traction to move, and we have to pull over. When Chuck and I climb out and look, the tire is gone. Not only the tire but the lip of the rim has ground down flat and there is a chunk of the rim itself missing. I told Chuck that I got us into this mess and I was going to get us out. Now we might not even be able to finish the race if I can't get the spare on. We are in a sand bowl. With one jack, one lug wrench, and no shovel. I find a rock the size of my hand, that's flat, and start using it to dig. Now, I dig a spot for the jack behind the wheel. It takes 30 or 40 minutes to dig out enough to get the old rim off and make room for the new one. I took this as a training exercise in the gym. Switching from the left hand to the right, as they would fail me and stop working. Chuck watched as I got close to getting the hole big enough. I ran into a problem. With sand, it collapses into the hole as you dig. My hole is next to my jack. If I keep digging, the sand under the jack is going to slide right into the hole I'm digging. The frame would land on the hole, and our only jack would be at the bottom of the hole. I began to pray.
There was a point at which I had enough room to get the tire in the hole, but only two lug bolts stuck out of the rim enough to thread on a nut. The tire is at an angle, and if I take one more scoop of sand out, the whole things going to fall. I tell Chuck that I'm going to put it in gear and spin the tires real quick. If we’re lucky the rim will seat itself flush, and we can get the other lug nuts on. Chuck's like, ya that might work. I get in, hit the gas, dump the clutch, and feel the tires spin a little. Pop it into neutral and go check. It worked. My original plan was to let Chuck drive some of the way. After my battle with the tire, I felt like I had to see this all the way through now. I finished the race. I had a great time and will take lessons out of that experience that you can't teach. You have to experience". I wonder what Chuck was thinking? "He understood. Things like this happen. Just like in life. Sometimes you have to dig yourself out, and everything can come crashing down if you're not careful". That's a great story.
Our last one and something you will be able to laugh about with Chuck for the rest of your days. I want to tell you how much I appreciate you spending your time with me. Sharing your life's stories. Talking about your spiritual journey. Opening up about your family has been the one part we worked on the most. I feel like so many people relate to your story. The migrant working community, especially. You're able to show them that their families' sacrifices are the same sacrifices you made. You represent those sacrifices and why a family makes them. Each person has a reason why they keep pursuing their dreams. It’s called "Hope" you give people HOPE!
That's it for Sundays With Cain. We spent all day Saturday taking pictures with the Big Guy. He signed pictures, shirts, hats, letters, and was outside all day saying his goodbyes. Cain, we will miss your presence, but we're glad you're able to go home. Not everyone is able to leave prison. So please, don't come back. Love You Big Guy.
