The rhythm guitarist for Five Finger Death Punch, Zoltan Bathory, has just received his final belt promotion after over twelve years training in BJJ courtesy of Royler Gracie and Mica Cipili. Bathory is a Hungarian-born American guitarist and one of the founding members of the Heavy Metal band, and Jiu-Jitsu has been a constant presence in his life for well over a decade now. Now that he’s earned the title of black belt in BJJ, he’s actually a black belt in two different grappling martial arts as he had already achieved a black belt in Judo previously. Bathory made the announcement on his official Instagram account, where he thanked Royler, Cipili, and his teammates.
Alongside this, Zoltan Bathory has very close links to the most widely-recognized family in BJJ history as he is actually married to Heather Grace Gracie, who is the granddaughter of Carlos Gracie. He’s also competed at various points over the last decade and has even managed to medal at the IBJJF Masters World Championships and the Abu Dhabi Pro Jiu Jitsu World Trials on his journey through the ranks. He’s represented Gracie Humaita during his forays into competition and trains at Gracie Humaita Las Vegas, where Mica Cipili is the head coach.
Bathory is far from the only famous figure in the music world to have worked his way through the ranks of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, as Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine was only recently promoted to purple belt in the sport as well. But the vast majority of celebrities who have tried their hand at BJJ have never competed and a sizeable amount of them won’t even roll competitively in class for fears of injury. That’s something that should be said to his credit, Bathory trains exactly the same as anybody else.
