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Laurence Cousin-Fouillat

Creator credit recorded on the linked source page: Laurence Cousin · CC BY-SA 4.0

Laurence Cousin-Fouillat

French black belt who came to jiu-jitsu from aikido, trained with Flavio Behring in Brazil, won IBJJF world gold in 2007 and co-founded Acemat in Toulouse.

Biography

Laurence Cousin-Fouillat (born 1981), also known as Laurence Cousin and Laurence Fouillat, is a French Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt who won the women's brown and black belt featherweight division at the 2007 IBJJF World Championship. She came to the sport from aikido in 1999, made regular trips to Brazil to train with Flavio Behring, and now runs Acemat, the Toulouse academy she co-founded with her husband, Erwan Fouillat. She was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, according to a 2012 profile published by BJJ Eastern Europe. Her father chose her sports. In a 2008 interview with On The Mat she explained that she took up sport at five, beginning with gymnastics, but disliked its competitive side, so at eight he moved her to aikido, which carried no pressure to compete, because he thought it mattered that she could defend herself. Her aikido teacher, Christian Monget, ran hard sessions and sent the class to seminars in other combat sports: judo, karate and finally, in 1999, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, introduced by a friend of his. By the 2012 profile's account she was about 18 at the time and ready to test for her aikido black belt. It was the submissions, above all the joint locks, that hooked her, a 2020 Girls in Gis profile says. She had not planned to compete; she has recalled doing jiu-jitsu for fun until people told her she was good, and her coach encouraged her to enter. While still training in aikido, she spent three hours on jiu-jitsu on Sundays with her aikido teacher. Competing required a team, so in June 2000 she joined the Cercle Tissier, which Jits Magazine describes as one of the largest clubs in France for the discipline, and she won her first tournament that year. Speaking to Jits in 2020, she recalled how jiu-jitsu was learned around 1999. There was no internet or YouTube, Brazilian instructors held techniques back, and leaving a class with one new technique counted as a success. She wrote techniques down and had no video camera until 2004, so training centered on the basics, which she believes gave her generation solid foundations. In those years, people who heard she did Brazilian jiu-jitsu assumed she meant capoeira; by 2020, she said, people in France generally knew it was a ground-fighting sport. She trained under Alain Nagera and Christian Derval. Derval hoped jiu-jitsu could win recognition inside the French judo federation, and around 2001 and 2002 he sent several athletes to compete in the Fighting System, one of the federation's ju-jitsu events. She told Jits she was the one who stayed, for two seasons, until he concluded that recognition would be difficult, and that she then concentrated on groundwork. Nagera, whom Jits calls her mentor, gave her the blue belt in 2001, just before she left for Brazil and her first World Championship, where she lost on points in the quarter-final to the woman who went on to win her category. From 2001 to 2005 she traveled to tournaments with Olivier Michailesco. Around the 2001 Worlds the two trained at Carlson Gracie's academy, and they went regularly to São Paulo to train with Flavio Behring. Flavio Behring and his son Sylvio presented her purple belt in 2002 at the Behring academy, and Flavio promoted her to brown in 2004. Competing often in Brazil, she was at first seen by Brazilian women as an outsider, a "gringo" in Jits' word, and later as a dangerous opponent. After several podium finishes there she won her first World Championship medal in 2003, a bronze for Behring in a featherweight division that put purple, brown and black belts together. In July 2005, still a brown belt, she won the CBJJO World Cup. That October, back in Paris, she received her black belt at a seminar given by Saulo Ribeiro, with Flavio Behring taking part in the promotion. Her academy describes her as the first European woman to be promoted to black belt in the sport, and she has made the same claim herself. Winning the World Championship had become her aim. In 2007, still competing for Behring, she left the Cercle Tissier for the Sankuno/NCU club led by François Laurent, where she also trained with David Pierre Louis; the following year she said she had not been finding what she needed at her old club. David Giorsetti was her coach that season. In early 2008 she described working shifts as an officer in the French police and training at night, with partners or a personal trainer, four or five times a week. At the 2007 Worlds, she told On The Mat, she looked at the bracket and set her sights on a semi-final with Leticia Ribeiro, who had beaten her in a 2003 semi-final in Rio, when Cousin-Fouillat was a purple belt and Ribeiro a black belt, and whom she had chased without success at the 2004 and 2005 Pan Ams. This time she got the match. Working from guard, she made many submission attempts, went ahead on an advantage, defended a leg lock near the end and reversed to the top, and she later called it her best tournament victory. She fought the final against Sayaka Shioda with a knee injured in her previous match, won by an advantage from a sweep, and cried at the end because she had reached her goal. Shioda took second place, with Bianca Barreto and Ribeiro in third. She said that her win, as the first European woman to take the title, went unnoticed at the event because people took her for a Brazilian, and that her friends were surprised that it was not shown on television; she saw the win as a sign that Europe was progressing quickly. In October 2013, BJJ Eastern Europe described her as the first European to win adult black belt gold at the IBJJF World Championship and, at that point, still the only one. In 2020 she told Jits she remained the only French athlete to have done it. Two hours after the title she was offered an MMA fight with the Bodog Fight promotion and turned it down. She told Jits that seeing an injured fighter at UFC 47 in 2004 had already convinced her never to do MMA. In 2008 she had said she did not plan to fight MMA because she disliked stand-up fighting, though she enjoyed watching the sport. In 2008 she was second in the same Worlds division, behind Bianca Barreto, with Julien Gaillard as her coach. She also won world titles in grappling, with and without the gi, at the FILA world championships in 2008 and again in 2009. In 2009, she told Jits, she won the ADCC European trials and went on to place fourth at the ADCC World Championship, losing a semi-final that ran 25 minutes instead of the usual 10 to the eventual winner, Luanna Alzuguir, and then the third-place match to Hillary Williams. In the 2008 interview she also described a vicious circle in women's competition: with few women entered there was only one open division, so lighter women stayed away, and fewer women joined academies. In France, she said, she was pressing promoters to offer at least one women's division, and she planned to fight for more. In 2010, the Girls in Gis profile says, she was burned out by competition and had a back injury. She spent about two years off the mat and believed she would never compete again, then returned step by step with encouragement from her coach, her team and her students; the break felt like a second life. In 2012, Jits writes, she left the Paris region for Toulouse, where she and Erwan Fouillat built Acemat, a club for Brazilian jiu-jitsu and grappling in which both are head coaches. The academy gives 2012 as its founding year; when La Dépêche wrote about her in February 2014, it called the association newly created and counted about 30 students and around ten children. She told Jits that Erwan drew up the plans and the business plan and handled the building work, that he teaches at the club and coaches her and their students in competition, and that the two of them take the club's decisions together. She returned to IBJJF competition at the 2013 London International Open, after five years away from the federation's events and almost three without any competition. Fighting for Tropa de Elite, she won her black belt weight division and reached the open-class final, which she lost 2–0 to Janni Larsson. In a statement published by BJJ Eastern Europe she said she had not known how she would compare with the current level, and credited Thomas Loubersanes with getting her back into competition and training with her daily. Registered under the Acemat name, she won the black belt lightweight division at the 2014 IBJJF European Championship. In 2014, Jits writes, she also joined Saulo and Xande Ribeiro's Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu team, and Acemat became the school's first French affiliate. For Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu she took bronze at the 2015 European Championship in a black belt featherweight podium headed by Michelle Nicolini and Mackenzie Dern, bronze in light-featherweight at the 2015 World Championship, and silver at the 2016 Europeans. Alongside the IBJJF events she competed again within the French judo federation's ju-jitsu, this time in ne-waza, its ground-fighting event. In 2015, after results at the French championships and the Paris tournament, she was picked for the French team at the European championships in the Netherlands and won the European ne-waza title in the under-55-kilogram category. In March 2022, at 40, she won what La Dépêche counted as her fourth French ne-waza title, finishing every bout by submission except the final, which she won 9–0. With many of her students in the stands, she told the paper, she had felt almost more pressure than usual. The World Games that July were the main goal of her season. In Birmingham, Alabama, she won bronze for France in the women's 57-kilogram ne-waza event, behind Meshy Rosenfeld of Israel and Galina Duvanova of Kazakhstan, and she was part of the French side that won the ju-jitsu national team competition. She has also kept winning in the IBJJF's masters divisions, which group athletes by age. At the 2018 masters European championship she won both her featherweight division and the open class; at the 2019 World Master Championship she took featherweight gold and open-class silver behind Sarah Black; and at the 2023 European Championship, registered for Six Blades Jiu-Jitsu, she won masters featherweight gold. In December 2023 she won the women's under-60-kilogram gi division at a professional event in Paris organized by the French federation CFJJB with Adidas. The same year, the clothing brand Athletes On The Mat released a gi called "Iconic" as a tribute to her. BJJ Eastern Europe wrote in 2018 that her teaching stressed self-defense and self-esteem, and that she had worked alongside a psychotherapist to help women who had suffered physical violence. Speaking to Jits in 2020, she called herself generous with technique, someone who gives everything and will spend a long time helping a student progress. She likes strategy, tactics and detail, and belongs to a generation taught in person; she sees the wealth of video online as a plus, though students have to learn to separate good material from bad. Her aims for the club were concrete: students, and a good atmosphere on the mat. Recreational members, she noted, make up more than 95 percent of a club, though she would coach anyone aiming to become a champion and be very demanding of them. She did not think the world title had changed much for her, since people pick a club for its location, atmosphere, price or schedule rather than the teacher's record. The 2012 profile names the guard as her favorite position and the omoplata, a shoulder lock applied with the legs, as her favorite technique, and Jits Prime has published a series of videos in which she demonstrates it. Reviewing a gi for BJJ Eastern Europe in 2013, she mentioned that she wore it daily to teach and train, and that she spends more than half of her time on her back. In 2020 the Girls in Gis profile described her as drawing motivation from her students and, as a third-degree black belt, still seeing herself as a lifelong learner. Her academy now lists her as a fourth-degree black belt and presents Jeremy Lougarre as the first black belt she and Erwan trained. It also describes her as a federation trainer for volunteer instructors, a seminar leader across Europe and the French overseas territories, and technical referent for a number of academies, from Agen, Pau and Tarbes to Aurillac, Figeac and Tahiti. In December 2025 she taught a seminar of more than two hours in Rodez for the club JJB 12, attended by about forty practitioners from Rodez, Millau, Figeac and Aurillac. At Easter 2026 she led a week-long camp at the Saint-Barth Jujitsu club, coaching its young practitioners and working with adult members and with students of the Renzo Gracie academy in Sint Maarten.

Sources for this profile

  • Wikipedia (English), "Laurence Cousin", last edited 6 January 2026.(opens in a new tab)

    • Laurence Cousin, also known as Laurence Fouillat and Laurence Cousin Fouillat, is a French Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitor and instructor born in 1981.

      Where in the source: Lead sentence and infobox — "born 7 August 1981"; infobox row Other names

      Accessed:

    • Wikipedia gives her nationality as French; she has represented France in international competition.

      Where in the source: Infobox, row Nationality — "French"; medal record heading Representing France

      Accessed:

  • BJJ Eastern Europe, "Who was the first European to win a gold medal at the BJJ Worlds in the black belt division? Laurence Cousin Fouillat of France!", 2 March 2012 (credited to BJJ Heroes and IKUSA.FR).(opens in a new tab)

    • A 2012 BJJ Eastern Europe profile, credited to BJJ Heroes and IKUSA.FR, says she was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris.

      Where in the source: Biography section, first paragraph — "Saint Germain en Laye"

      Accessed:

    • According to the 2012 profile, she began in gymnastics and took up aikido as a child because her father wanted her to be able to defend herself and chose a non-competitive art; as a girl she dreaded competition.

      Where in the source: Biography, first paragraph — "through Aikido"

      Accessed:

    • According to the 2012 profile, at about 18 she was ready for her aikido black belt test when her aikido teacher, who often invited instructors from other styles, introduced the class to BJJ instructor David Rivière, then a blue belt; it was her first contact with jiu-jitsu, and she began training it whenever she could, even without proper supervision.

      Where in the source: Biography, second paragraph — "David Rivière"

      Accessed:

    • According to the 2012 profile, she needed to register with a team in order to compete, so she joined the Cercle Tissier, and won her first tournament for the academy in June 2000.

      Where in the source: Biography, second paragraph — "Cercle Tissier"

      Accessed:

    • According to the 2012 profile, she trained under BJJ instructors Alain Nagera and Christian Derval and received her blue belt in 2001.

      Where in the source: Biography, third paragraph — "Christian Derval"

      Accessed:

    • According to the 2012 profile, she began travelling to Brazil to train and compete, received her purple belt at the Behring academy from Flavio Behring and his son Sylvio in 2002, and received her brown belt under Flavio Behring in 2004.

      Where in the source: Biography, third paragraph — "his son Sylvio"

      Accessed:

    • According to the 2012 profile, in July 2005 she won the CBJJO World Cup (Copa do Mundo) as a brown belt and medalled at the Mundial; in October 2005, back in Paris, she was awarded her black belt in a ceremony led by Saulo Ribeiro and Flavio Behring.

      Where in the source: Biography, fourth paragraph — "ceremony led by"

      Accessed:

    • According to the 2012 profile, in 2007 she changed training camps: while still representing Behring Jiu-Jitsu, she began training with François Laurent and David Pierre Louis before winning the World Championship gold she had long wanted.

      Where in the source: Biography, fifth paragraph — "switched camps"

      Accessed:

    • The 2012 profile lists the guard and the omoplata as her favourite position and technique.

      Where in the source: Header summary, Favourite Position/Technique — "Guard & Omoplata"

      Accessed:

    • The 2012 profile lists her as FILA world grappling champion both with the gi and without the gi in 2008 and in 2009.

      Where in the source: Header summary, Main Achievements list, the two FILA lines

      Accessed:

  • IBJJF, "World Jiu-Jitsu IBJJF Championship 2003" results page.(opens in a new tab)

    • At the 2003 IBJJF World Championship she took third place, for Behring, in the women's adult purple/brown/black featherweight division, a combined division for the three belts; Andrezza Pinho won and Aika Sato was second, with Leticia Ribeiro also third.

      Where in the source: Results list, division ADULT / PURPLE BROWN BLACK / FEMALE / FEATHER — place 3, Laurence Cousin, Behring

      Accessed:

  • IBJJF, "World Jiu-Jitsu IBJJF Championship 2007" results page.(opens in a new tab)

    • At the 2007 IBJJF World Championship she won the women's adult brown/black featherweight division, a combined brown and black belt division, representing Behring; Sayaka Shioda was second and Bianca Barreto and Leticia Ribeiro were third.

      Where in the source: Results list, division ADULT / BROWN BLACK / FEMALE / FEATHER — place 1, Laurence cousin, Behring

      Accessed:

  • IBJJF, "World Jiu-Jitsu IBJJF Championship 2008" results page.(opens in a new tab)

    • At the 2008 IBJJF World Championship she was second, for Behring, in the women's adult brown/black featherweight division, behind Bianca Barreto.

      Where in the source: Results list, division ADULT / BROWN BLACK / FEMALE / FEATHER — place 2, Laurence Cousin, Behring

      Accessed:

  • BJJ Eastern Europe, "The Return Of The First & Only European Black Belt Adult World Champion, France's Laurence Cousin Fouillat", 21 October 2013.(opens in a new tab)

    • In October 2013, BJJ Eastern Europe described her as the first European, and at that time still the only one, to win black belt adult gold at the IBJJF World Championship, which she did in 2007.

      Where in the source: Opening paragraph — "first (and still only) European"

      Accessed:

    • She returned to IBJJF competition at the 2013 London Open after five years away from IBJJF events and almost three years without any competition; in her own words she won her weight-class final and lost the absolute final 2–0 to a much heavier opponent, and had not known beforehand how she compared with the current level.

      Where in the source: Her quoted statement, first sentences — "5 years of absence"

      Accessed:

    • In the same 2013 statement she thanked Ksp Toulouse for treating her back problems, which she said were now fine, thanked Thomas Loubersanes for pushing her to compete again and training with her every day, and credited Hugo Fevrier and Tropa de Elite for getting her back on the mat.

      Where in the source: Her quoted statement, list of thanks — "pushing me to compete again"

      Accessed:

  • IBJJF, "London International Open IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2013" results.(opens in a new tab)

    • At the 2013 IBJJF London International Open she won the women's adult black belt light division for Tropa de Elite and was second in the women's black belt open class behind Janni Larsson.

      Where in the source: Division Female / Adult / Black / Light (136.00lb) — 1, Laurence Elisabeth E. Cousin, Tropa de Elite; Open Class — 2

      Accessed:

  • La Dépêche du Midi, "Ju-jitsu brésilien. Laurence Fouillat-Cousin, aussi passionnée de football", 24 February 2014.(opens in a new tab)

    • La Dépêche reported in February 2014 that she had just created her own sports association, Acemat (a name the paper glossed as the 'aces' of the tatami), which then had about 30 students and around ten children, and that she was teaching at the Boxing Factory in Colomiers.

      Where in the source: Third paragraph — "vient de créer"; "environ 30 élèves"

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    • Quoted by La Dépêche in 2014, she said she had been the first European woman to receive the BJJ black belt.

      Where in the source: Opening quotation — "la première européenne féminine"

      Accessed:

  • IBJJF, "European IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2014" results.(opens in a new tab)

    • At the 2014 IBJJF European Championship she won the women's adult black belt light division (61.5 kg), registered under the team name Acemat; Andrea Endy Alves de Souza was second.

      Where in the source: Division FEMALE / ADULT / BLACK / LIGHT (61.50KG) — 1, Laurence Elisabeth E. Cousin, Acemat

      Accessed:

  • BJJ Eastern Europe, "Successful BJJ Academies Run By Women Black Belts", 9 June 2018.(opens in a new tab)

    • BJJ Eastern Europe wrote in 2018 that her academy, Acemat, operated under the Ribeiro banner in France, that her teaching stressed self-defence and building self-esteem, and that she had worked alongside a psychotherapist to help women who had been victims of physical violence.

      Where in the source: Section "Jiu-Jitsu Acemat team" — "under the Ribeiro banner"; "beside a psychotherapist"

      Accessed:

  • IBJJF, "European IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2015" results.(opens in a new tab)

    • At the 2015 IBJJF European Championship she took third place in the women's adult black belt featherweight division (58.5 kg) for Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu; Michelle Nicolini won and Mackenzie Dern was second.

      Where in the source: Division FEMALE / ADULT / BLACK / FEATHER (58.50KG) — 3, Laurence Elisabeth E. Cousin, Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu

      Accessed:

  • IBJJF, "World IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2015" results.(opens in a new tab)

    • At the 2015 IBJJF World Championship she took third place in the women's adult black belt light-featherweight division for Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu; Rikako Yuasa won.

      Where in the source: Division FEMALE / ADULT / BLACK / LIGHT FEATHER — 3, Laurence Elisabeth E. Cousin, Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu

      Accessed:

  • La Dépêche du Midi, "Toulouse. Ju-jitsu : Laurence Cousin-Fouillat au top", 25 June 2015.(opens in a new tab)

    • La Dépêche reported in June 2015 that she had also taken up traditional ju-jitsu, a discipline under the French judo federation, and after results at the French championships and the Paris tournament was selected for the French team at the European championships in the Netherlands, where she won the European ne-waza title at -55 kg.

      Where in the source: Second and third paragraphs — "le titre européen en -55 kg"

      Accessed:

  • IBJJF, "European IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2016" results.(opens in a new tab)

    • At the 2016 IBJJF European Championship she was second in the women's adult black belt light division (61.5 kg) for Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu, behind Jessica dos Santos.

      Where in the source: Division FEMALE / ADULT / BLACK / LIGHT (61.50KG) — 2, Laurence Elisabeth E. Cousin, Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu

      Accessed:

  • IBJJF, "Master International Jiu-Jitsu Championship - Europe 2018" results.(opens in a new tab)

    • At the IBJJF Master International Championship – Europe 2018 she won both the women's Master 2 black belt featherweight division (58.5 kg) and the Master 2 black belt open class for Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu.

      Where in the source: Divisions FEMALE / MASTER 2 / BLACK / FEATHER (58.50KG) and OPEN CLASS — 1, Laurence Elisabeth E. Cousin

      Accessed:

  • IBJJF, "World Master IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2019" results.(opens in a new tab)

    • At the 2019 IBJJF World Master Championship she won the women's Master 2 black belt featherweight division for Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu and was second in the Master 2 black belt open class behind Sarah Black.

      Where in the source: Division FEMALE / MASTER 2 / BLACK / FEATHER (129.00LB) — 1, Laurence Elisabeth E. Cousin; Open Class — 2

      Accessed:

  • La Dépêche du Midi, "Saint-Orens-de-Gameville. Fouillat et Tarride, une histoire de promesses", 21 March 2022.(opens in a new tab)

    • La Dépêche reported that in March 2022, at 40, she won her fourth French ne-waza championship title at -57 kg, winning every bout by submission except the final, which she won 9–0, and that the World Games that July were the main goal of her season.

      Where in the source: Second paragraph — "quatrième titre"

      Accessed:

    • After that 2022 national title she told La Dépêche that many of her students were in the stands and that she had felt almost more pressure than usual.

      Where in the source: Second paragraph, her quote — "mes élèves dans les tribunes"

      Accessed:

    • La Dépêche describes her as a Toulouse resident by adoption who set up her own private dojo, Acemat, with her husband Erwan.

      Where in the source: Second paragraph — "dojo privé (Acemat)"

      Accessed:

  • IBJJF, "European IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2023" results.(opens in a new tab)

    • At the 2023 IBJJF European Championship she won the women's Master 2 black belt featherweight division (58.5 kg), registered for Six Blades Jiu-Jitsu.

      Where in the source: Division FEMALE / MASTER 2 / BLACK / FEATHER (58.50KG) — 1, Laurence Elisabeth E. Cousin, Six Blades Jiu-Jitsu

      Accessed:

  • BJJ Eastern Europe, "BJJ Gi Released in Tribute of First European Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt Adult World Champion", 12 September 2023.(opens in a new tab)

    • In 2023 the BJJ clothing company Athletes On The Mat released a gi model called Iconic as a tribute to her.

      Where in the source: Article body — "a tribute to Laurence Cousin Fouillat"

      Accessed:

  • BJJ Eastern Europe, "Jiu-Jitsu is Booming in France: Adidas Sponsorship, Pro Events & Huge Tournaments Fuel The Growth", January 2024.(opens in a new tab)

    • At a professional BJJ event organised by the French federation CFJJB with Adidas in Paris on 21 December 2023, she won the women's gi division under 60 kg.

      Where in the source: Results paragraphs — "secured gold in the under 60kg"

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  • BJJ Eastern Europe, "Kraken Gi Review By 2007 IBJJF World Champ Laurence Cousin Fouillat", 27 June 2013.(opens in a new tab)

    • In a 2013 gi review she wrote for BJJ Eastern Europe, she said she wore the gi every day to teach her classes and to train, and remarked that she spends more than half of her time on her back.

      Where in the source: Her review text — "more than half of your time on the back"

      Accessed:

  • ACEMAT, "L'équipe" page, acemat.fr, read October 2026.(opens in a new tab)

    • Laurence Fouillat is head coach and co-founder of Acemat, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu and grappling club in Toulouse that the academy says was founded in 2012; Erwan Fouillat is the other head coach and co-founder.

      Where in the source: Team cards — "HEAD COACH & CO-FONDATRICE"; footer "fondée en 2012"

      Accessed:

    • Her academy lists her as a black belt.

      Where in the source: Team card Laurence Fouillat, belt line — "Ceinture Noire 4ème degré"

      Accessed:

    • Her academy lists her black belt as fourth degree.

      Where in the source: Team card Laurence Fouillat, same belt line as c38

      Accessed:

    • The academy's biography describes her as a federation trainer for volunteer instructors, a seminar leader across Europe and the French overseas territories, and technical referent for numerous academies, naming Agen, Pau, Tarbes, Belly, Aurillac, Crozon, Figeac, Tahiti, Miramas and Bagnols-sur-Cèze.

      Where in the source: Full biography panel behind the card's see-full-bio button (same text in the page's JSON-LD Person description) — "formatrice fédérale"

      Accessed:

    • Her academy's biography describes her as the first European woman to obtain a BJJ black belt and as the second non-Brazilian black belt to win gold at the World Championship, in 2007.

      Where in the source: Full biography panel (same JSON-LD text) — "toute 1ère femme européenne"

      Accessed:

  • ACEMAT, home page, acemat.fr, read October 2026.(opens in a new tab)

    • The academy presents black belt Jeremy Lougarre as the first black belt trained by Erwan and Laurence Fouillat.

      Where in the source: Team section, Jeremy Lougarre — "Première Ceinture Noire historique"

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    • Acemat is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu and no-gi grappling club in Toulouse, France.

      Where in the source: Page header — "CLUB DE JIU-JITSU BRÉSILIEN ET GRAPPLING À TOULOUSE"

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  • Le Journal de Saint-Barth, "Jujitsu : une semaine enrichissante et inspirante", May 2026.(opens in a new tab)

    • During the 2026 Easter holidays she led a week-long training camp at the Saint-Barth Jujitsu club, coaching young practitioners and also working with adult members and with students from the Renzo Gracie academy in Sint Maarten.

      Where in the source: Second paragraph — "une semaine de stage"

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  • La Dépêche du Midi, "Rodez. Un stage exceptionnel avec Laurence Fouillat, organisé par le JJB 12", 25 December 2025.(opens in a new tab)

    • La Dépêche reported in December 2025 that she taught a seminar of more than two hours in Rodez for the club JJB 12, attended by about forty practitioners from Rodez, Millau, Figeac and Aurillac.

      Where in the source: First paragraph — "une quarantaine de pratiquants"

      Accessed:

  • Jits Magazine, athlete profile "Laurence Fouillat" (jits.fr), archived by the Wayback Machine on 11 June 2026.(opens in a new tab)

    • Jits Magazine's athlete profile says she discovered Brazilian jiu-jitsu in 1999 at her aikido club, when a friend of her aikido teacher Christian Monget gave the class an introduction; a few months later she joined the Cercle Tissier, one of France's largest clubs in the discipline, and won her first BJJ tournament in 2000.

      Where in the source: Profile text, first paragraph — "Christian Monget"

      Accessed:

    • According to Jits, she received her blue belt in 2001 from her mentor Alain Nagera just before leaving for Brazil to compete at her first World Championship, where she lost on points in the quarter-final to the woman who went on to win her category.

      Where in the source: Profile text, second paragraph — "¼ de finale"

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    • Jits writes that, competing regularly in Brazil, she was seen by Brazilian women as a foreign outsider, a 'gringo' in the magazine's word, before they came to regard her as a dangerous opponent.

      Where in the source: Profile text, second paragraph — "gringo"

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    • According to Jits, she received her purple belt in Brazil with the Behring team in 2002 and, after several podiums in Brazil, won her first World Championship medal, bronze, in 2003 in a division that combined purple, brown and black belts.

      Where in the source: Profile text, third paragraph — "rassemblées"

      Accessed:

    • According to Jits, in 2005 she won the BJJ World Cup at brown belt and a few months later received her black belt from Christian Derval and Flavio Behring during a seminar given by Saulo Ribeiro.

      Where in the source: Profile text, fourth paragraph — "Saulo Ribeiro"

      Accessed:

    • According to Jits, early in 2007 she left the Cercle Tissier to join the Sankuno/NCU club under the direction of François Laurent.

      Where in the source: Profile text, fifth paragraph — "Sankuno/NCU"

      Accessed:

    • Jits calls her the first European woman to become black belt world champion, and lists her as the first European woman to obtain a BJJ black belt, in October 2005.

      Where in the source: Profile text, sixth paragraph and title list — "championne du monde"

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    • According to Jits, in 2012 she left the Paris region for Toulouse, where she set up her own club, Acemat, together with her husband.

      Where in the source: Profile text, seventh paragraph — "propre club"

      Accessed:

    • According to Jits, in 2014 she joined Saulo and Xande Ribeiro's Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu team, and her club became the Ribeiro school's first French affiliate.

      Where in the source: Profile text, eighth paragraph — "première affiliation française"

      Accessed:

    • Jits wrote that she was dividing her time between her job, competition and teaching, which it called her passion, both at her club and at seminars she leads in France and abroad.

      Where in the source: Profile text, last narrative paragraph — "partage son temps"

      Accessed:

    • Jits' title list includes FILA world championships in gi and no-gi grappling in 2009, alongside her IBJJF titles.

      Where in the source: Title list for adult black belt, FILA line

      Accessed:

  • Antony Rode, "Laurence Cousin Interview", On The Mat (European Fight Network exclusive), 21 March 2008; Wayback Machine snapshot of 26 December 2024.(opens in a new tab)

    • In a 2008 interview she said her father chose her sports: she started at five, did not like the competitive side of gymnastics, and at eight her father put her into aikido, which had no competition pressure, because he thought it important that she could defend herself.

      Where in the source: Answers to the first two questions — "decided for me"

      Accessed:

    • She said her aikido teacher trained the class hard and had them attend seminars in other fighting sports — judo, karate and finally BJJ; she first did BJJ for fun, then people told her she was good and she wanted to compete; while still doing aikido she trained three hours of BJJ on Sundays with her aikido teacher, joined the Cercle Tissier in June 2000, and changed academy in 2007 because she was not finding what she needed there.

      Where in the source: Answers on martial arts history and how she got into BJJ — "3 hours"

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    • In 2008 she said she worked shifts as a police officer in the French police, so she trained at night with partners or with a personal trainer, four to five times a week.

      Where in the source: Answers on managing training and work, and on training regimen — "police officer"

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    • She said that since receiving her black belt her goal had been to win the World Championship; that being the first European woman to do so went unnoticed at the event because she was taken for a Brazilian; that her friends were surprised not to see the result on television; and that she saw the win as a sign Europe was progressing fast.

      Where in the source: Answers on winning gold and on reactions — "mistaken for a Brazilian"

      Accessed:

    • Conflicting accounts

      She said that at the 2007 World Championship she had already finished third in the absolute before her weight division, which took the stress away and left her focused.

      Where in the source: Answer about her fights, first sentences — "3rd Place"

      Accessed:

    • She said that seeing the 2007 bracket she aimed to reach the semi-final to face Leticia Ribeiro, to whom she had lost a semi-final in Rio in 2003 as a purple belt against a black belt and whom she had pursued at the 2004 and 2005 Pan Ams without success; in the semi-final she worked from guard, made many submission attempts, gained an advantage, defended a late leg lock and reversed to the top, calling it her best tournament win.

      Where in the source: Answer about her fights, middle part — "revenge"

      Accessed:

    • She said she fought the 2007 final against Sayaka Shioda with a knee injured in her previous match, won by an advantage from a sweep, and cried at the end because she had reached her goal.

      Where in the source: Answer about her fights, last sentences — "uncontroled sweep"

      Accessed:

    • Asked about low female participation, she described a vicious circle: with few women there was only one absolute division, so lighter women stayed away, and fewer women joined academies; she said that in France she pushed promoters to offer at least a women's division and planned to fight for more women's divisions.

      Where in the source: Answer on women's participation — "girl division"

      Accessed:

    • In 2008 she said she did not plan to fight MMA because she did not like stand-up fighting, though she enjoyed watching it.

      Where in the source: Answer on plans to fight MMA — "stand up"

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  • Ayesha Kamal, "Step by Step: The Only Way to Get to the Top", Girls in Gis blog, 26 October 2020; Wayback Machine snapshot of 26 December 2024.(opens in a new tab)

    • A 2020 Girls in Gis article based on a conversation with her says that in 2010 she was burned out by competition and had a back injury, which kept her off the mat for about two years and made her think she would never compete again; with encouragement from her coach, team and students she returned step by step, and the break felt like a second life.

      Where in the source: Article, paragraph on reaching her goal — "second life"

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    • The 2020 article says she and her husband Erwan run Acemat in Toulouse, then affiliated with Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu, that she draws motivation from her students, and that as a third-degree black belt she still saw herself as a lifelong learner.

      Where in the source: Takeaways and closing paragraph — "lifelong learner"

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    • According to the 2020 article, after some exposure to judo she was not new to grappling, but BJJ's submissions, particularly joint locks, hooked her; she had not planned to compete until her coach encouraged her, and after her first win she set herself the goal of winning the IBJJF World Championship.

      Where in the source: Paragraphs on her introduction and first competition — "joint locks"

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  • Claire-France Thévenon, "Le JJB des années 2000", Jits Magazine, 8 July 2020; Wayback Machine snapshot of 11 June 2026.(opens in a new tab)

    • In a 2020 Jits interview she recalled learning BJJ around 1999 with no internet or YouTube: Brazilian instructors held techniques back, leaving a class with one technique was a success, she wrote techniques down, and she had no camcorder until 2004, so training centred on basics, which she believes gave her generation solid foundations.

      Where in the source: Answer on what BJJ was like in 1999 — "caméscope"

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    • She told Jits that around 2001–2002 she spent two seasons in the French judo federation's ju-jitsu Fighting System, because Christian Derval hoped BJJ might win recognition within that federation and sent several athletes; she was the one who stayed, until Derval concluded recognition would be difficult, and she then concentrated on groundwork.

      Where in the source: Answers on MMA and ju-jitsu fighting — "Fighting System"

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    • She told Jits that from 2001 to 2005 she travelled to tournaments with Olivier Michailesco, that they trained at Carlson Gracie's academy around the 2001 Worlds, and that they went regularly to São Paulo to train with Flavio Behring.

      Where in the source: Answer about her first tournaments and trips with Olivier Michailesco, 2001–2005 — "Olivier Michailesco"

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    • She told Jits that when she started, people who heard she did Brazilian jiu-jitsu assumed she meant capoeira, whereas by 2020 people in France generally knew it was a ground-fighting sport.

      Where in the source: Answer on how BJJ has evolved in France — "capoeira"

      Accessed:

    • In July 2020 she described herself as a third-degree black belt who had started jiu-jitsu in 1999.

      Where in the source: Opening questions — "troisième degré"

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  • Claire-France Thévenon, "Interview Laurence Fouillat - 2e partie", Jits Magazine, 8 September 2020; Wayback Machine snapshot of 11 June 2026.(opens in a new tab)

    • She told Jits that in 2009 she won the ADCC European trials and qualified for the ADCC World Championship, where she finished fourth after losing the semi-final to eventual winner Luanna Alzuguir in a match she said lasted 25 minutes instead of the usual 10, and then lost the third-place match to Hillary Williams.

      Where in the source: Answer on the ADCC World Championship — "Trials Europe"

      Accessed:

    • She told Jits that two hours after her 2007 world title she was offered an MMA fight with the Bodog Fight promotion and turned it down, and that seeing an injured fighter at UFC 47 in 2004 had already convinced her never to do MMA.

      Where in the source: Answers on the temptation of MMA — "Bodog Fight"

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    • She told Jits that she and her husband Erwan built the club together, with him handling the plans, business plan and building work; that he teaches at the club and coaches her and their students in competition; that David Giorsetti coached her in 2007 and Julien Gaillard in 2008; and that club decisions are taken by the two of them.

      Where in the source: Answers on Acemat and on Erwan Fouillat — "business plan"

      Accessed:

    • Describing her teaching to Jits, she said she is generous in passing on technique, gives everything and will spend a lot of time to help a student progress; she likes strategy, tactics and detail, belongs to a generation taught in person, and sees the wealth of online video as a plus, the difficulty being that students must learn to sort good material from bad.

      Where in the source: Answers on what kind of teacher she is — "Je donne tout"

      Accessed:

    • She told Jits her aims for the club were concrete — students and a good atmosphere on the mat — noting that recreational members make up more than 95 percent of a club, and that she would coach any student aiming to become a champion but be very demanding of them.

      Where in the source: Answer on goals for the academy — "95%"

      Accessed:

    • She told Jits she did not think her world title had changed much for her, since people choose a club for its location, atmosphere, price or schedule rather than the teacher's record, and that in 2020 she remained the only French athlete to have won the adult black belt World Championship.

      Where in the source: Answers on what the title changed — "mon titre"

      Accessed:

  • Jits Prime, "Laurence Cousin Fouillat" technique video index (jits.fr); Wayback Machine snapshot of 20 May 2026.(opens in a new tab)

    • Jits Prime published a series of technique videos in which she demonstrates the omoplata, described as a technique she particularly likes.

      Where in the source: Jits Prime page, introduction and video list — "l'omoplata"

      Accessed:

  • Wikipedia (English), "Ju-jitsu at the 2022 World Games".(opens in a new tab)

    • At the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama, she won bronze for France in the women's 57 kg ne-waza event, behind Meshy Rosenfeld of Israel and Galina Duvanova of Kazakhstan.

      Where in the source: Section Medal summary, Ne-waza table, row Women's 57 kg — bronze Laurence Fouillat, France

      Accessed:

    • She was also a member of the French team that won gold in the national team competition in ju-jitsu at the 2022 World Games.

      Where in the source: Section Medal summary, Team table, row National team competition — France, team list including Laurence Fouillat

      Accessed:

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