Bixente Lizarazu, the former left back of French national football team that won the world cup in 1998, has been training Jiu-Jitsu for the since 2009. Lizarazu has also competed twice even winning the European championship at blue belt senior 1 in 2009 in Lisbon. He was promoted to BJJ black belt in 2019 by BJJ black belt Yannick Beven and Ze marcello from Icon.
Bixente trains trains in Capbreton in south western France.
Yannick Beven is a Franco-Brazilian ex surfer and current strength and conditioning coach for Pro Surfers in France.
Bixente has competed twice at the European championship in Lisbon, placing first at Senior 1 blue belt in 2009, in 2010 at purple he placed 3rd. Although he is currently very busy with his TV career, he always finds the time to train at least 3 x a week and sometimes more.
He recently talked about his 14 year Jiu-Jitsu journey:
Like many things in life, the paths you take depend on the encounters you make. I discovered Brazilian jiiu jitsu in 2007 just after the end of my professional football career and thanks to Yannick Beven, 4th degree black belt. It has become a great passion both for the particular history of this sport and for the pedagogy and personality of Yannick.
In 2019, Yannick and Ze Marcello awarded me the black belt. It was a pride, an accomplishment but also a responsibility to be worthy of it every day🙏👊.
I continue to train 3 times a week and with the bike, it complements very well in terms of physical condition 👊🤪
Brazilian jiu jitsu is the most complete sport that I know in terms of sheathing … 🦍🦍🦍
Many thanks and gratitude to Yannick Beven for all these years spent together on the tatami, especially for these last difficult months, without our YBBJJ club, where we only trained both and where we were able to refine a lot of techniques … 🤪👌
It is time to find our club as soon as possible.
Oss😉👊👊
About his future in BJJ, Lizarazu says:
”I will stick with BJJ, it’s a beautiful experience. It’s one against one. You haven’t got your friends behind your back to support you like in soccer. It’s close to a fight for survival. It boosted my self confidence. Sometimes I think it would be great to bring this experience to soccer, but not as a trainer. A manager maybe?”
France is proud to have such a distinguished ambassador for BJJ.
An interesting documentary on Lizarazu’s passion for BJJ (in French)
