A woman who trains Brazilian jiu-jitsu went public with her account of being harassed and cyber-stalked by a black belt at her gym, only to find the situation turned into a joke by one of the sport’s most recognizable names.
The woman, known online as jessi_vfit, posted a reel that spread rapidly across social media, detailing what she describes as months of relentless pursuit, cyber-stalking, and institutional silence.
Renzo Gracie, one of the most decorated and celebrated figures in BJJ history, responded to her post with four laughing emojis alongside the comment: “Buy him a good pair of prescription glasses for sure he needs.”
The remark drew 240 likes, as well as considerable backlash from people who felt the situation warranted something other than ridicule.
In her video, jessi_vfit laid out the full arc of what she endured. “I have a cyber stalker and it’s a black belt man that I met at my school,” she said. “Mind you, I’m a blue belt, so there’s a power dynamic imbalance here.”
According to her account, the black belt developed an intense fixation on her from the moment they met, making his obsession known to teammates and coaches alike.
“This individual is someone that alleges he fell in love with me from the first time he met me. I’ve never even seen the guy,” she said. “I met the guy and I’m like, we’re teammates and that’s it. And the guy just wouldn’t and won’t take no for an answer.”
She says the power structure of the gym made it difficult to respond as forcefully as the situation required. “I was a little nervous about coming off as like, I’m not listening to my higher-ups because of this power dynamic. So I think I was a little nicer than what I needed to be.”
Her coaches were aware of what was happening, she says, but took no meaningful action. The one person who openly addressed the situation was his own roommate, who also trained at the school.
“She knew about the situation and just thought it was really weird. And she told him, you’re making her really uncomfortable,” she stated.
The harassment then moved online, through multiple accounts. “I would send them screenshots of him cyber-stalking me through different accounts, admitting to cyber-stalking me through different accounts and nothing was done,” she said.
She eventually brought the matter directly to his instructor, Eddie Bravo, the founder of 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu. His response was to block her on Instagram and send a text message she found deeply troubling.
“He proceeded to block me on Instagram and then send me a long paragraph through text message, pretty much saying that it was my fault,” she said. “I’m a pretty girl. I hung out with him, had lunch, mind you, with our teammates, that I practically led this man on. But he also knows that I was being nice to the guy. So it was this really weird, confusing, gaslighting message that was sent to me.”
Bravo did reportedly instruct the black belt to leave her alone, block her, and lose her number. Yet as of the time of her video, the behavior had not stopped. “As of tonight, this man is still cyber-stalking me and clearly he hasn’t gotten the message,” she said. “He doesn’t believe that there are consequences to his actions.”
She closed with a direct warning: “Just so you know, if you decide to participate in this sort of behavior, you will be called out.”
The incident comes as BJJ is already contending with separate misconduct controversies. Gordon Ryan, speaking on the Overdogs USA podcast about allegations involving Andre Galvao, addressed what he sees as a cultural issue embedded in the sport.
“I do feel like there is just a culture within jiu-jitsu where, for, like, in Brazil, for example, I think the legal age is a lot lower,” Ryan said. “So for older men to date a lot younger women is just, like, a totally culturally accepted thing.”
He was explicit that geography does not excuse conduct in the United States. “What is okay in Brazil probably isn’t okay here,” he said, adding a remark about grooming specifically: “I think it’s way worse if you’re, like, teaching a girl from, like, the age of eight and then you, like, start, like, doing something with her when she’s older. That’s, like, totally unacceptable in my opinion.”
Ryan also remarked on how swiftly institutional fallout can follow once allegations surface. “Every time you wake up and look at your phone, another ADCC champion is leaving, or, like, another affiliate is leaving. So this has, like, completely destroyed his legacy.”
