Women’s mixed martial artist Gabi Garcia has publicly accused her husband of domestic abuse.
Garcia, an undefeated fighter and accomplished Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner, recently took to Instagram claiming that her husband, Bruno Almeida, had been physically abusive throughout their relationship.
“The time has come. It’s time to be brave and tell everyone why I’ve been away for the past two years,” Garcia said. “They were the worst years of my life, but I’ll show all the details at the end of this week. I didn’t think this could ever happen. That someone could be so bad. A criminal. A person who has commited crimes before and after he was with me. A person who has money and asked for pension, my purses, my earrings. Asking for my house. Using the name Garcia.”
“Married, with a son and using my last name. A person who says she is a child of God, who went to my wedding and wrote ‘God bless you’ is still his lover,” Garcia added. “Because that guy won’t divorce me. Even with a restraining order and the Maria da Penha law (A Brazilian law created to protect women who were victim of domestic violence) by my side, he didn’t stop. There are 19 cases of fraud on my credit card, closed my accounts in three different banks. I would get home to no water, no power. He took the money from my payments.
“I had to go to court to prove that I’m the owner of my own house. He lied to his lawyer by saying that it was rented. He asked for my Chanel earrings, my purse collection, pension. He had people intimidating me. Job? He doesnt’ have one. He lives on allowance from his mother. I’m posting everything. We have to believe in the law. My parents have depression, I can’t leave my house. I still have to put a finish to some wars, though. I’ll tell my fans every single detail so I can help women who have been abused,” Garcia concluded.
Paulo Costa Makes Light of Gabi Garcia’s Horrifying Situation
After pouring her heart out on social media, fans and fighters rallied around Gabi Garcia and showed their support for the Brazilian combat sports icon. Unfortunately, not everyone had something nice to say. Enter Paulo Costa, the UFC’s self-appointed comedian. Costa has developed a reputation over the last year for taking clever cracks at his co-workers. For the most part, they are genuinely humorous and relatively light-hearted, but ‘The Eraser’ appears to have stepped over the line this time.
In response to Gabi Garcia’s story, Costa tweeted out an image of the especially jacked Brazilian and asked, “Who the hell was her husband, Thanos?”
Gabi Garcia primarily competed under the RIZIN banner in Japan but she has been absent from the MMA scene since 2018 after going 6-0 to kick off her career. Garcia has remained active in submission grappling, most recently competing at the ADCC world championships last year.
Sadly, Gabi Garcia is the second female fighter to come out about the abuse she suffered at the hands of a man she once loved and trusted. Rising contender Mackenzie Dern also opened up about her experience with domestic violence following a decisive win over Angela Hill last month.