Mikey Musumeci has never been shy about sharing strong opinions, and his appearance on the Overdogs BJJ podcast with Hector Vasquez and guest Helena Crevar was no exception. Between discussions about Helena’s rise to the top of women’s grappling, the conversation turned to the dangers women face in jiu-jitsu gyms.
The subject came up during a conversation about predatory behavior in the sport. Hector mentioned that even gyms with strong safety cultures are not immune, pointing to a situation involving Izaak Michell that happened at his own academy.
The discussion made Musumeci uncomfortable in a way that felt deeply personal.
“I fear one day when I have a daughter her training jiu-jitsu,” Musumeci said. “I think it’s scary. It’s a very out of control feeling that there’s so many horrible predators in this sport.”
He pushed further, noting that the usual advice of trusting your instincts or simply leaving a bad gym does not account for women who have no frame of reference yet.
“They go to a random gym. They don’t know what gym they’re going to. They don’t know if the instructor is a nice person,” he said.
He described how predatory behavior can be disguised as helpfulness, with an instructor being overly attentive, texting after class, offering extra technique help, while making the target believe that same treatment is being extended to everyone.
“Like how do we navigate this? Do women first start training with women? Is that a little safer for them? Or do they just train with guys and then the guy’s overly nice and say, ‘Oh, good roll today.’ They text a girl that after and then they’re overly trying to help them with technique like and oh, they’re definitely doing this with everyone in the gym.”
Hector talked through some of the protocols he used at his gym, including one-on-one orientations for new members and closely monitoring the behavior of newcomers in beginner classes.
He also made clear he preferred to refund someone and ask them to leave rather than wait for proof of wrongdoing if something felt off.
