Khabib Nurmagomedov is planning to visit his good friend Cain Velasquez in jail ahead of his murder trial.

The former UFC heavyweight champion, 39, was arrested and charged with attempted murder in March after he allegedly shot and injured a man in a truck following a high-speed car chase in San Jose, California.

Velasquez – who was recently denied bail for a second time – has been slapped with multiple felonies, including attempted murder, shooting at a motor vehicle or aircraft, assault with a firearm, assault with a deadly weapon, willfully discharging a firearm from a vehicle and carrying a loaded firearm with intent to commit a felony.

And Nurmagomedov hopes to visit his AKA team-mate to give him some moral support during the most troublesome period of his life.

He told TMZ: “In Russia, we can go and see anybody. I don’t know the law here in US. I really want to go and see him.

“After a couple days, I’m gonna be in San Jose. I want to go see him, shake his hand, give him good energy.

“Anybody in the world who respects himself, who loves his family is gonna do same thing, exactly.

“Nobody going to think about the law or something when you have something about family.

“You have to protect your family. If animals protect their family, of course humans protect their family.”

Judge Shelyna Brown denied Velasquez bail earlier this month due to his “reckless disregard for human life”.

Nurmagomedov was left perplexed by the judge’s decision, saying: “We talk about law, court, they hold him in jail, I don’t understand this thing.

“You always have to be fair, it’s not fair.”

The Russian added: “Never in his life — he’s 40-years-old — never have he had problems [socially] outside with people, [in the] gym.

“He’s most respectful guy I ever seen in my life. I was training with him more than 10 years, I know his family, everybody loves Cain.”

Velasquez became UFC heavyweight champion in October 2010 with a first-round demolition of WWE superstar Brock Lesnar.

He lost the belt in his maiden title defense against Junior dos Santos the following November but regained it 13 months later with a decision victory over the Brazilian.

Velasquez made two defenses of the belt before losing it to Fabricio Werdum in the summer of 2015.

Seven months after a brutal 32-second loss to current heavyweight king Francis Ngannou, Velasquez called time on his MMA career in October 2019.

His retirement paved the way for a brief stint in the WWE, where he renewed his rivalry with Lesnar.

But he was cut from wrestling’s premier promotion in April 2020 due to COVID-enforced budget cuts.

This story originally appeared on The Sun and has been reproduced here with permission.