By Two Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu athletes, including IBJJF World Champion Erberth Santos, have been arrested for, charged with and confessed to serial rape and robbery, once again forcing the BJJ community to reckon with the entirely non-systemic problem of sexually and physically abusive athletes. While some have sought to connect this latest incident with other known predators continuing to find safe haven only to ultimately run afoul of the law after committing more grievous offenses, others aren’t so sure there’s any reason to connect a bunch of unrelated actions into some grander narrative.
“People always try to act like one bad act represents the sport,” said Black Belt and gym owner Michael Andrews, “but when you look closer, it’s really just a numbers game. BJJ is huge, and a large enough group will always have bad eggs. When you consider how many violent sexual predators with full teams protecting them there are in this sport, there are actually a pretty low amount of rape arrests, so we’re doing pretty good on the balance. Hell, we’ve got three of ’em teaching at our school for years now and none of them have done anything that any of my students have come to me with.”
The incident is expected to have serious consequences for Santos in the professional grappling scene, as well. While Santos has managed to navigate the struggle of fallout from previous outbursts of violence and aggression on the mats and off it’s believed that many of the top Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu organizations will no longer allow him to compete in major events for the duration of his impending prison sentence.
