One black belt is calling for BJJ Fanatics to remove Andre Galvao‘s instructional content from their platform following serious allegations.
A verified BJJ Black belt posted a lengthy appeal on Reddit urging the community to pressure BJJ Fanatics into deplatforming instructors accused of misconduct. While he acknowledged his appreciation for Bernardo Faria and the platform’s contributions to the sport, he expressed concern that BJJ Fanatics has become what he termed “a haven for some of the worst offenders in our sport.”
“BJJ Fanatics is giving them legitimacy and (even more troubling) an income ,” he wan wrote. “Bernardo has always had a reputation as one of the nice guys in the sport, so it’s jarring to see his site continue to host folks like Andre Galvao, Roberto ‘Cyborg’ Abreu, Jake Shields, and Josh Saunders, among others.”
It’s worth noting that Jake Shields is not accused of any of that, instead he’s a political opponent who often posts morally questionable yet not illegal content.
The call comes amid a mass exodus from Team Atos following allegations made by Alexa Herse, a longtime student who trained at the gym since childhood.
The allegations triggered an immediate response from the competitive jiu-jitsu community. High-level competitors including Bruno Frazatto, JT Torres, Dom Bell, Lucas Pinheiro, and Gustavo Batista publicly severed ties with Atos.
“I would like to say that we do not agree with and do not condone the actions taken by the team’s leadership. This type of attitude is unacceptable and makes our permanence in the team unsustainable,” Batista stated.
Days after the departures began, Atos HQ released a statement announcing that Andre and Angelica Galvao would be “immediately and indefinitely” separated from all organizational roles. However, the announcement drew immediate skepticism, with observers noting the account posting the statement featured Andre Galvao as its profile picture at the time of publication. The account also reportedly removed nearly 300 posts overnight, presumably featuring the Galvaos.
The timing of BJJ Fanatics’ marketing also raised eyebrows. As Google searches for Galvao surged following the allegations, the platform featured a daily deal on his “No-Gi Takedown Fundamentals” instructional. While likely an automated response to trending search terms rather than a deliberate choice, the optics proved unfortunate.
Black belt argued that BJJ Fanatics has demonstrated the ability to act when necessary.
“They swiftly pulled the Wiltse Bros. instructionals when Andrew Wiltse’s mental health issues resurfaced. There is precedent here for BJJ Fanatics removing concerning content, and I hope they continue to do so.”
He’s failing to recognize that BJJ Fanatics acted on Wiltse not because of his mental issues but because of the unsubstantiated claims he was making against their biggest earners. He also attempted to pull his content and host it on his own YouTube, which they quickly ended by filing three copyright strikes and forcing YouTube to delete the channel.
It might also help to know that BJJ fanatics was strongly rumored to be considering deplatforming all members of a team during a team split in order to keep their earners happy.
The black belt suggested the community consider “temporarily withdrawing support from BJJ Fanatics until their storefront reflects community values.” He compared the situation to standard business practices.
“Every business has a code of conduct and zero-tolerance policy, but too few actually enforce them unless customers speak up,” he wrote. “We don’t need to get carried away being the morality police, but some of the folks being hosted by BJJ Fanatics should be clear no-brainers for removal. Any quality gym in America would kick out a student facing these levels of misconduct allegations.”
For him, the current moment represents a potential turning point.
“Sadly, in many cases, the accused even seems to benefit from the accusations, achieving a much larger platform than they’d had before.”
He noted that the unified response to the Galvao allegations may signal a cultural shift.
“Thankfully, the overwhelming community response to the latest accusations against Andre Galvao and Atos may be showing a shift in our culture. It feels like people are waking up to the fact that this crisis can’t be ignored any longer.”
Andre Galvao has categorically denied the allegations, calling them “false rumors” and suggesting they originated from “someone who recently left ATOS before this whole thing happened and this person isn’t even stated in the rumors but obviously has a personal vendetta due to financial cuts and administrative decisions.”
The one instructional that was actually taken down from BJJfanatics by either them or the Galvaos is the one related to raising kids:
It’s entirely possible this was taken down by Galvao’s co-instructor Mayra Ramos.
Full post courtesy of r/bjj:
