(Editor’s note: Story updated to include lengthy statement from Macfarlane on Instagram, as well as comment from Scott Coker to MMA Junkie.)

Bellator women’s flyweight champion Ilima Lei-Macfarlane is speaking out about being the victim of alleged sexual abuse – and she’s taking action.

Macfarlane, 30, along with her older sister, Mahina Macfarlane Souza, and an unnamed former Punahou School student filed a lawsuit Thursday in Honolulu Circuit Court, listing former basketball coach Dwayne Yuen and the school as defendants. According to Hawaii News Now, citing a copy of the lawsuit, Macfarlane and Co. accuse Yuen of sexually abusing them while they attended the school.

“I had an inappropriate relationship with an adult who was in an authoritative position and a position of power, as a 12-year-old, and that has 100 percent affected what I think is a healthy relationship,” Macfarlane said.

In the lawsuit, Yuen is alleged to have forced the girls to touch his genitals, offered money for sex acts and sent explicit photos of himself. The sisters also say they reported Yuen to school administrators more than 15 years ago, but the school did nothing about it at the time.

“There was no follow at all, whatsoever, which was especially heartbreaking, because I love Punahou,” Macfarlane said. “I truly believe and know that they all knew what was going on, and it was just like a culture there.”

Macfarlane, who attended Punahou since kindergarten and graduated from the high school in 2009, said her experience with Yuen is why she gave up basketball and pursued wrestling instead.

“I ended up losing my love for basketball, which was crazy,” Macfarlane said. “That’s what I wanted to do as a career. I wanted to play professional basketball in the WNBA.”

Macfarlane, who is undefeated at 11-0 in MMA, won Bellator’s inaugural women’s flyweight title in November 2017 and has four title defenses since then. In her most recent fight last December at Bellator 236 in her hometown of Honolulu, Macfarlane won a unanimous decision over Kate Jackson.

Bellator president Scott Coker told MMA Junkie the promotion would be there to offer Macfarlane support as needed.

“That’s something very serious. We’re here to support her,” Coker said. “It’s obviously become a legal situation, and that’s something that’s always a rough go, but we’re here for her. And if she needs anything, we’ll be here for her.”

UPDATE: Macfarlane issued a lengthy statement on Instagram later Thursday after the news broke.

Even though I’ve been a strong voice for other wahine toa—creating my scholarship for native girls, teaching self-defense to them, leading healing retreats for women—I never really shared my own story. To be honest, I was in denial and didn’t want to admit that it affected me as much as it did. I have to be strong. I’m a professional fighter. I can’t show any vulnerability. I can’t give him the satisfaction of knowing how much he infiltrated my thoughts, relationships and life even 15 years later. But here we are. The time is now.

And for all the trolls saying, “wHy DiD u wAiT s0 l0nG?!” Idiots. We didn’t “wait”. My sister reported him to the school right when it happened and they swept it under the rug. Punahou knew I was a victim and witness to my own sister’s abuse and didn’t even bother to check on me. As a result we were retaliated against by him and the basketball program and had to see him everyday, still allowed on campus around minors. My sister and I tried our best to move on with our lives until it resurfaced in 2018 when more victims came forward. Punahou claimed they were doing an internal investigation but again, didn’t contact me and refused to share the results of the “investigation” with my sister. Disgustingly, we found out that he’s STILL coaching and teaching minor girls. So here we are now, 15 years later seeking justice together. He can’t get away with this anymore. Dwayne Yuen, YOUR TIME IS UP.

P.S. I chose this picture not only for the solidarity that my family and I have together through this process, but to show you how old me and Mahina were when the sexual grooming and abuse started. I was in 6th grade and she (far right) was a freshman.