Written by Jim Murphy
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Saturday, December 06 2008
When he's not getting himself disqualified, Gilbert Yvel is a devastating striker. He faces a tough challenge against Josh Barnett at Affliction: Day of Reckoning (Photo: Susumu Nagao)
Josh Barnett is not only one of the top heavyweight MMA fighters in the world, he’s also one of Japan’s top pro wrestling attractions. That’s significant here, as he’s found himself matched up against arguably the biggest “heel” in the entire sport of mixed martial arts at
Affliction: Day of Reckoning. After rumors swirled for weeks that Barnett would meet either Aleksander Emelianenko or former EliteXC prospect Brett Rogers, Affliction VP Tom Atencio pulled a wild card out of the hat with the signing of PRIDE veteran Gilbert Yvel. Yvel will make his US debut against Barnett on January 24th in Anaheim, CA.
Yvel is an enigmatic fighter, with top notch striking and substandard ground fighting skills. He’s also got a reputation as a dirty fighter and something of a head case. His rap sheet of not upholding the honor of professional prizefighting is topped by a 2004 incident in Finland, where he was disqualified against Atte Backman for knocking the referee to the ground mid-fight. He then kicked the prone ref several times before being restrained by security.
He was disqualified in a fight against Karimula Barkalaev in 1998 for biting his opponent, and again in a 2001 PRIDE bout against the legendary Don Frye. Yvel not only bit “The Predator” but raked his face with his fingernails and gouged his eyes in an effort to prevent being taken down. He then pushed referee Yuji Shimada when given a “yellow card” penalty, and then refused to re-start the fight from the ground. He left the ring following his DQ holding his penalty card aloft with apparent pride, and has never made any sort of apology or rationalization for his competitive malfeasance.
Despite—or perhaps because of—his volatile nature he’s achieved considerable popularity in Japan, Europe and Scandinavia. The other aspect of Yvel’s dual personality—he’s a very talented standup striker and has been sought after as a trainer by many fighters, most notably Mirko Cro Cop during his preparation to fight Cheick Kongo. He trains at the Vos Gym in Amsterdam, one of the most respected kickboxing camps in the world—roughly analogous to American Top Team or Team Quest in MMA.
Yvel was originally slated to fight tough Russian Sergei Kharitonov at PRIDE’s second Las Vegas show but was denied a license by the Nevada State Athletic Commission due to his track record of unprofessional behavior, most significantly his assault on officials. According to his trainer, Ivan Hippolyte, he’s finally matured as an individual and dedicated himself to his profession. Hippolyte (who has also worked with the aforementioned Mirko Cro Cop as a trainer) is especially bullish on Yvel’s future in mixed martial arts, suggesting that he’s capable of winning a major title. Affliction thought highly enough of his potential that they signed him to a three fight deal.
In an interview with
FightNewz.net, Hippolyte addressed his fighter’s checkered past and what he feels is a promising future:
"At the moment Gilbert is going well and has much more confidence He is mentally and physically strong and what we need now is the opportunity for a big corporation like K-1 Hero's or UFC.
"We are definitely ready to hang around the big guys now. He has a big name but doesn't have a big opportunity. "I think if he has a few build-up fights he can definitely win a title. "Whether it's in the UFC or K-1 Hero's he is definitely one of the guys who can win a title."Later in the interview, Hippolyte discussed Yvel’s greater maturity and focus. According to him, the two men spoke at great length about some of the low points of his career and that Yvel has come to understand the significance of his mistake, stating at one point about the incident in Finland “Ivan, what was I thinking??”
For the same reasons that Nevada denied him a license to fight in 2007 is not certain that he’ll be cleared to fight in California in January, 2009. He does have a few things working for him, most importantly the passage of time with four and ½ years having past since his most recent—and egregious—in-ring misbehavior in Finland. His record since then—including 5 straight wins, and 6 victories in his last 7 fights—appears to validate Hippolyte’s assertion that he’s now focused on improving as a fighter. Perhaps the greatest thing working to his advantage at this time is the “power vacuum” at the California State Athletic Commission following the resignation of Armando Garcia as Executive Officer. Without a strong activist leader at the helm of the commission to potentially press a case against him, Yvel might essentially be the beneficiary of a “rubber stamp”.
Assuming that he does get clearance to fight, he’ll be immediately jumping into the “deep end” of the heavyweight pool against Josh Barnett. In many ways, Barnett is a “worst case scenario” matchup for Yvel—he’s got the experience and patience to avoid the Dutchman’s striking. At the same time, Barnett has become a very dangerous tactical striker in his own right. He’s very methodical in looking for opportunities to throw and willing to wait for a perfect opening to land a KO punch as he did against Pedro Rizzo at the first Affliction event. Yvel’s biggest liability is also Barnett’s greatest strength—he’s struggled against good wrestlers in the past and he’ll be in against one of the best here. Yvel had enough problems with good wrestlers that he dwarfed physically including Dan Henderson, Vitor Belfort and most recently 5’9 Ikuhisa “Minowa-Man” Minowa who effortlessly took him down and submitted him in less than two minutes of the first round. That doesn’t bode well for him against a bigger, stronger fighter with elite level wrestling and submission skills.
If nothing else, Yvel vs. Barnett is an intriguing matchup. It also suggests potential fights with other Affliction contracted fighters that could be highly entertaining slugfests—Andrei Arlovski, Ben Rothwell and even Tim Sylvia could create fireworks if paired against Yvel. At this point, Affliction is likely most interested in a future Barnett vs. Fedor fight and this should be a perfect showcase for “The Babyface Assassin” against a credible opponent that provides a perfect tactical matchup for him.
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