Roberto ‘Cyborg’ Abreu Announces New Guidelines to Address Misconduct at Fight Sports
On Tuesday, Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu announced new guidelines for addressing misconduct within his affiliation, Fight Sports. The announcement comes weeks after news came to light regarding the sexual assault case of former Fight Sports black belt Marcel Goncalvez. Abreu had previously announced a plan to deal with instances of misconduct internally (that can be read here); these policies establish an “independent platform and hotline number to report any sort of misconduct,” Abreu wrote on Instagram.
According to Abreu, Fight Sports has engaged with Red Flag Reporting, an independent ethics and hotline service that permits Fight Sports members, contractors, and employees to report a variety of misconduct. Additionally, Fight Sports has contracted with BMD Gateway, which will provide sexual harassment and discrimination training to all Fight Sports employees and contractors.
“This is a small step in the right direction towards enacting the change that our team and our sport deserves,” wrote Abreu.
In March 2018, jiu-jitsu black belt and former Fight Sports affiliate instructor Marcel Goncalves was arrested and charged with multiple counts of sexual assault stemming from allegations that the then 31-year old Goncalves had had intercourse multiple times with a 17-year old student. Earlier this year, ADCC head organizer Mo Jassim released details of the allegations that he says he obtained from the victim’s father. According to Jassim, Abreu permitted Goncalves to continue to train at Fight Sports after his arrest.
