Gilbert Yvel

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Gilbert Yvel
Image:Yvel profile.jpg
Statistics
Nickname	The Hurricane
Height	6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight	225 lb (102 kg)
Nationality	Dutch
Born	June 30, 1976 (1976-06-30) (age 31)
Town of birth	Amsterdam, Holland
Team/Association	Vos Gym
Fighting style	Muay Thai
Mixed martial arts record
Wins	31
By knockout	27
By submission	4
Losses	11
Draws	1
No contests	1

Gilbert "The Hurricane" Yvel (June 30, 1976-) is a Dutch mixed martial arts fighter. He is associated with the Vos Gym training camp in the Netherlands.

Yvel is known as an accomplished stand-up fighter, possessed of an unusual arsenal of strikes and kicks as befitting his Thai-boxing training, and famous for his signature "flying knee" strike. Yvel's grappling is usually considered sub-par. Although he owns a few wins via submission, many of his losses were due to opponents taking him down and outwrestling or submitting him.

Yvel is infamous for his temper and lack of restraint. For example, in November 2004 during a fight with Atte Backman, he knocked the referee down and subsequently kicked him as he lay prone on the mat. Consequently, Yvel was disqualified from the match.

Prior to that incident, Yvel had been disqualified twice before; once against Karimula Barkalaev in May 1998 for biting, and again in September 2001 (PRIDE 16) in a bout with Don Frye. Several times during this match Yvel repeatedly raked his fingers across Frye's face and pushed his thumb into Frye's eyes to avoid being wrestled to the mat^[1]. Yvel also exhibited unsportsmanlike conduct toward referee Yuji Shimada, going so far as to assault him physically by pushing his head back with both hands after receiving his first yellow card, and refusing to restart the fight from ground. The official reason for this disqualification was continued holding of the ropes after repeated warnings.

These incidents have left Yvel with a reputation as a dirty and dishonorable fighter, which he apparently is not ashamed of as witnessed when he proudly marched out of the ring after a match in PRIDE holding his penalized card above his head with a smile.

Due to his aforementioned assault of a referee, as well as losses by disqualification in previous matches, the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) rejected Yvel's application for a fighter's license. As a result, he was pulled from a scheduled fight with Sergei Kharitonov at PRIDE 33 in Las Vegas, and was replaced with Mike Russo, a Chicago police officer.

His last fight was a TKO win over Hakim Goram at K-1's World Grand Prix in Amsterdam on June 23, 2007.