Laurence Cousin

Laurence Cousin was born on 7 August 1981, in Saint Germain en Laye, France.[1] From the age of eight she trained in Aikido before discovering Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) through a presentation at her dojo. Looking to train and compete she joined Europe's oldest BJJ academy Le Cercle Tessier in 1999, at the time their first and only female member.[3] Cousin received her blue belt in 2001 then started to travel to Brazil to train and compete, receiving her purple belt from legendary red belt Flavio Behring at the Behring academy in 2002. As a purple belt she won Bronze at the 2003 World Championship fighting against brown and black belts in the purple/brown/black division.[3] In the year 2004 Cousin received her brown belt[1] and won the 2005 CBJJO World Jiu Jitsu Cup,[lower-alpha 1] she then won bronze in the brown/black division at the 2005 IBJJF World Championship taking place in Brazil.[5] That same year, she was awarded her black belt by Flavio Behring during a seminar of Saulo Ribeiro.[1]

In 2007 Cousin changed team and trainers to join Sankuno/NCU, later the same year she won gold at the IBJFF World Jiu-Jitsu Championship, beating favourite Leticia Ribeiro of Gracie Humaita in the semi-final, becoming the first European black belt world champion, also finishing third in the Open Class category.[1] In 2008 and 2009 Cousin competed in the former FILA Grappling World Championship taking place in Fort Lauderdale, USA winning gold both year in the Gi and No-Gi categories.[lower-alpha 2] In 2009 she won the ADCC Submission Wrestling European Championship Trials then reached the semi-final of the ADCC World Championship losing to Luana Alzuguir.[7] Following a back injury Cousin decided to step away from training and competing.[8] In 2012 she left Paris for Toulouse in the south of France where she established, with her husband Erwan Fouillat, her own academy Acemat. In 2013 Cousin decided to return to competition, she won gold at the London Open International in her weight class and silver in open class under team Tropa de Elite.[9] in 2014 Cousin became a member of brothers Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu team, making Acemat their first French affiliation.[10]

Competing under Acemat / Ribeiro jiu-jitsu Cousin won the London Open International[11] followed by the 2014 European Championship.[3] In 2015 she won gold at the IBJJF World Master, gold (competing in Sport Ju-Jitsu) at the JJIF Newaza[lower-alpha 3] No-Gi European Championships[12] and bronze at the IBJJF European championship. In 2016 Cousin participated in Polaris Pro 3 in England, won silver at the 2016 European championship[13] then won silver at the 2016 World Master IBJJF Championship in her weight class and won bronze in the absolute division.[14] In 2017 Cousin entered the European Master Championship winning bronze in two categories, the following year she won gold in both her division and open class.[15]

In 2019 Cousin won the IBJJF World Master 2 in her weight division and silver in the Open Class as well as becoming for the second time double European Master Champion.[16]

Main Achievements:

• IBJJF World Champion (2007)[17]
• CBJJO World Jiu Jitsu Cup Champion (2005 brown[lower-alpha 1])
• IBJFF European Champion (2014)[18]
• ADCC European Trials winner (2009)[19]
• 2 x World FILA Gi Champion (2009, 2008)[1]
• 2 x World FILA Nogi Champion (2009, 2008)[1]
• 2nd place IBJJF World Championship (2008)[20]
• 2nd place IBJFF European Championship (2016)[21]
• 3rd place IBJJF World Championship (2015 Black,[22] 2005 brown, 2003 purple[lower-alpha 4])

Mitsuyo Maeda > Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie > Flavio Behring > Laurence Cousin[1]