UFC featherweight Norma Dumont sat down with the MMA Hoje podcast following her recent defeat and spent considerable time addressing the Melqui Galvão case and the culture of abuse she has witnessed throughout her career in martial arts.
Dumont drew from two decades of experience inside combat sports academies when describing how she believes abuse unfolds.
“Generally, predators go after girls who are quieter, more reserved, they don’t have a stronger personality. They know very well where they’re going. Every harasser appears as a father first.”
She described the psychological grooming process in detail.
“He arrives promising favors, especially if he preys on children from communities who sometimes don’t have many options. He knows her needs.”
“In another case, the person offered a girl a gym in the United States.From the moment she starts making money, she feels like she can’t speak out because it would destroy his name, his entire ‘kingdom.’ These guys know how to build that control, and that’s why it goes on for so long.”
Dumont also explained the structural problem that protects abusers in positions of authority.
“When it’s a student, you report it to the instructor and it gets handled. But when the instructor is the problem, the woman usually just leaves the team. And because of that, we’ve lost a lot of talented athletes from the sport.”
She also addressed why harassment often goes unrecognized in its early stages.
“You don’t even need to talk, you don’t even need to have physical contact for it to be harassment. I saw a girl who tagged me in a post, saying that a teacher there told her: ‘You have to work out more so you can get even hotter.’ And she was underage. And she was outraged by that and complained, and they covered it up.”
Dumont described the backlash that often follows when a woman speaks up.
“I saw a whole crowd of men attacking a girl online after she spoke out. And I’m not someone who usually engages in debates about machismo or feminism, but it feels like the internet is harsher on women now more than ever.”
“A lot of guys were saying things like, ‘She’s just trying to get attention from the coach,’ or making up other excuses.”
For Dumont, the solution starts with early action.
“The only way to stop it is to speak up and report it. Even the smallest incidents need to be reported, because for every one person, there could be 30, 40, 50 others going through the same thing.”
Melquisedeque de Lima Galvao Ferreira, widely known as Melqui Galvão, was taken into custody in Manaus on April 28 after multiple allegations surfaced from female students.
The investigation, led by the 8th Women’s Defense Police Station in São Paulo, began when a 17-year-old athlete reported alleged misconduct that reportedly occurred during a competition trip to Italy.
As authorities dug deeper, two additional alleged vic tims were identified, including a girl who was just 12 years old at the time of the incidents.
Investigators claim Galvão attempted to access the 17-year-old’s phone without consent. He also allegedly tried to dissuade her family from cooperating with authorities by offering financial and professional incentives, including a proposal to set up a gym abroad.
In response, both the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation and the Confederação Brasileira de Jiu-Jitsu issued lifetime bans, barring him from all sanctioned events and activities.
Authorities have seized electronic devices as part of the case, with forensic analysis still underway. The investigation remains ongoing and is being conducted under judicial confidentiality.
