Former UFC fighter and jiu-jitsu black belt Yan Cabral teaches out of Association Aranha in Barcelona and has 38 athletes from Spain, France and Italy. The IBJJF European Championships is a launchpad for his dream of coaching a champion at the highest level. 

"As an athlete I’ve achieved almost everything I wanted to. Now as the association is growing, I already have several European champions among my students, so my dream would be to one day coach one of them to become world champion." 

Yan rolling at his academy in Barcelona. Photo: Maggie Left

As a young, feisty and very competitive man living in Visconde de Maua, a small town in Rio de Janeiro, Yan Cabral was introduced to jiu-jitsu in 1995 by his friend Thier Tavares with whom he used to train with at home. To begin with, Yan just saw jiujitsu as a means to release some aggression. It was only in 2000 when he started training at Brazilian Fight (Carlson Gracie) that he began to take it more seriously. Jiu-jitsu as a sport became the positive outlet that Yan relied on to take him away from street fights. 

Competitive as he is Yan learnt to focus on his goals, challenging himself to become a more disciplined person, reserving use of the techniques he was learning in the academy to competitions only. Once Yan obtained his brown belt he started training at Nova Uniao under Andre ‘Dedé’ Pederneiras, who gave him his black belt in 2006. While training at Nova Uniao HQ, Yan met Eric Satgé in 2006, a French brown belt trying to create a BJJ association in France, He invited Yan to Toulouse (France) to teach for three months. 

It was then that Association Aranha was founded. “Eric is the founder," says Yan. "I helped him but he is the founder. I don’t like to see myself as the only head coach, in my opinion we both work together. Everything started in Toulouse, that’s where Eric is and he has a very big and successful academy there.” A year later, while still based in Toulouse, Yan Cabral made his MMA debut in Luxembourg. 

With a stunning first four years in his MMA career, Yan won all his fights by submission (10-0) building an incredible reputation that took him to fight at TUF, DREAM and UFC. His current record is 15-3. Yan decided to settle down in Barcelona in 2009: “Probably a lot of people train at Aranha because of me, because of my career, so saying where our HQs are is kind of complicated (laughs). Maybe we could say that it is in Barcelona”. 

Yan Cabral competing at the 2018 IBJJF European Championships. Photo: Maggie Left

At the moment Aranha Association have more than 20 associated academies in Europe, representing the huge development of jiu-jitsu in the region. A significant contrast compared to when Yan first arrived in Europe. “When I arrived, there were only a few, very small tournaments, usually you would just have one or two fights maximum, maybe a couple of superfights a year, that’s all. The evolution is huge, now you have two or three big events a month. This helps jiu-jitsu to grow, the level at the academies raises and there is more and more information on media and the internet about it thanks to them. 

"I believe that it is the result of a lot of people doing a great job. It’s true that a lot of good fighters went to the States, nevertheless a lot of top-level athletes came to Europe too. Guys like Roger (Gracie) or (Eduardo) Teta, In Madrid you have Mathias Ribeiro (black belt under Fabricio Werdum), who is a well known student of Mario Reis, and has been working very well for a long time.

"In Barcelona, apart from me, you have Robin Gracie who helped build a good base for jiu-jitsu in the country. I’m just naming some of those who come to mind right now and who arrived here more or less at the same time as I did. Nowadays I think every country in Europe has a strong reference point for someone in the sport.” 

Yan likes to work on the technical quality of each one of his students. He works with each one individually to support and develop their own personal game. This year, he wants to compete as much as he can in jiu-jitsu in addition to lining up some MMA fights too. 

Photo: Maggie Left

Balancing coaching and competing is one of his greatest challenges: “The most difficult thing, is being able to find a balance between training and teaching. I’ve been doing it for 13 years now and it’s still hard. I am a competitor, I love it, and I think that through competition we inspire others to become better, yet I really want my students to perform at their best and for them to do so, I must be there to teach, and to coach them whilst they are fighting. I can say that the most memorable moment of my career as an athlete, was the day I won the fight against Sakuraba at DREAM, but as a teacher, every time any of my students wins, that’s memorable." 

"Every time I see one of my students improving his technique or just living a healthier lifestyle… That’s memorable!" 

A few months ago Yan moved his academy to a new facility. He is now exclusively teaching jiu-jitsu (gi an no-gi) in two different locations in central Barcelona. He is opening a third fight center soon, with an intended focus on other combat sports including Muay Thai and boxing. 

This year, Aranha Association is bringing over three dozen students to the IBJJF European Championships, and more than 15 are from Barcelona. A rib injury he picked up last month at the Kaizen BJJ tournament in Barcelona will keep Yan off the mats, but you'll see him at mat side coaching his students all week.

Watch the 2019 IBJJF European Championships

Jan. 15-20 | Lisbon, Portugal