Controversial MMA fighter Gilbert Yvel recently secured a nasty technical submission win over Mighty Mo at a Road FC event in China.
Yvel, who infamously knocked out a referee during a bout many years back, broke Mo’s elbow while working on a brutal armbar, but did immediately release the submission once he knew the elbow had broke.
It’s not for the squeamish, but watch the gnarly elbow snap for yourself:
Yeah… elbows are not supposed to bend like that. Mighty Mo escaped Gilbert Yvel's armbar, but the damage was already done. #ROADFC47pic.twitter.com/sGNFjsKyBD
Yvel went winless in three UFC appearances but has been on a four-fight win streak since his UFC release, with all four coming by way of a finish.
The Dutch kickboxer is also a BJJ purple belt and appears to have redeemed himself from his more dangerous and reckless reputation earlier on in his career.
Now having won four fights in a row, would you like to see Yvel in Bellator or back in the UFC?
It’s not easy being an MMA referee. When the cage door closes it must be a lonely place knowing that they are the only person standing between two fired-up fighters ready to go to war. The two fighters safety is always a referee’s primary concern during a fight, but as you’ll see in this article,
When the cage door closes it must be a lonely place knowing that they are the only person standing between two fired-up fighters ready to go to war.
The two fighters safety is always a referee’s primary concern during a fight, but as you’ll see in this article, all it takes is for one angry, adrenaline-fueled combatant to disagree with a call they make in the cage and suddenly it’s their own safety that’s in jeopardy.
That’s led to some nasty incidents over the years, though don’t be fooled – just because referees aren’t wearing gloves and a mouthpiece doesn’t mean they can’t fight, and you might be surprised to see how many of them can more than hold their own when it’s time to restore order in the Octagon!
Atilla Kubilay
Atilla Kubilay became an instant villain in the sport after his appaling behavior both before and during his fight with Richard Bowkett at Cage Rage 11 in 2005.
As UK referee Grant Waterman brought the two fighters together in the center of the cage to receive their final instructions prior to the fight, Kubilay suddenly punched his opponent square in the face.
That should have been an instant disqualification, but he was extremely fortunate that Bowkett was still able to continue, and that officials decided that the fight could go ahead.
Despite being warned about his behavior, Kubilay hadn’t learned his lesson, and early in the first round he began landing illegal knees to the head of his downed opponent.
Waterman’s initial attempts to pull Kubilay off Bowkett failed, and so he had to apply a standing rear-naked choke to end the assault, bringing the thug to his knees as other officials rushed in to help him out.
Kubilay only fought one more time before his career came to an abrupt halt.
Gilbert Yvel could have been a beloved figure in MMA. A devastating striker with a kill-or-be-killed approach to fighting, the Dutch kickboxer was able to produce 32 wins by KO/TKO in his 16-year, 56-match career, with all 38 of his victories coming by some form of stoppage. Over the years Yvel has knocked out Semmy Schilt, Gary Goodridge, Cheick Kongo, and Houston Alexander, and won multiple fights against Bob Schrijber, Valentijn Overeem, and Tsuyoshi Kohsaka.
Yvel mellowed out, eventually. Since the referee-hitting incident in 2004, the 37-year-old has managed to avoid dirty fighting, disqualifications, and controversy, and settled into a role as a veteran banger, showing up to squash cans in international promotions, or act as fodder for a larger name. A three-fight stint in the UFC in 2010 was a total bust, and seemed to signal the end of Yvel’s time as a relevant force in MMA. But it wasn’t over yet. Yvel attempted to rescue his career with a weight-drop to 205 pounds, going from pleasantly plump to startlingly skinny.
The crazy thing is, it actually worked. Yvel signed with RFA in 2011, and went 2-0 as a light-heavyweight, stopping Damian Dantibo and Houston Alexander, both in the first round — which makes it somewhat surprising that Yvel has now decided to call it a day.
Gilbert Yvel could have been a beloved figure in MMA. A devastating striker with a kill-or-be-killed approach to fighting, the Dutch kickboxer was able to produce 32 wins by KO/TKO in his 16-year, 56-match career, with all 38 of his victories coming by some form of stoppage. Over the years Yvel has knocked out Semmy Schilt, Gary Goodridge, Cheick Kongo, and Houston Alexander, and won multiple fights against Bob Schrijber, Valentijn Overeem, and Tsuyoshi Kohsaka.
Yvel mellowed out, eventually. Since the referee-hitting incident in 2004, the 37-year-old has managed to avoid dirty fighting, disqualifications, and controversy, and settled into a role as a veteran banger, showing up to squash cans in international promotions, or act as fodder for a larger name. A three-fight stint in the UFC in 2010 was a total bust, and seemed to signal the end of Yvel’s time as a relevant force in MMA. But it wasn’t over yet. Yvel attempted to rescue his career with a weight-drop to 205 pounds, going from pleasantly plump to startlingly skinny.
The crazy thing is, it actually worked. Yvel signed with RFA in 2011, and went 2-0 as a light-heavyweight, stopping Damian Dantibo and Houston Alexander, both in the first round — which makes it somewhat surprising that Yvel has now decided to call it a day.
In a new interview with Germany’s GnP TV, Yvel claimed that he’s “pretty much done” competing, citing a “kidney issue” — perhaps the result of his drastic weight-cuts to light-heavyweight — and the accumulated fatigue from 16 years of professional combat.
“I’m done, I’m tired, I’m over it,” Yvel said. “I don’t wanna punch nobody anymore…I’ve been fighting for 16 years, that’s a long time. Look at me, I’m still pretty, I’m not slurring my words. I had a good run, so this is it.”
For the time being, Yvel says he’ll be content to be a trainer instead of a competitor, and has taken a job teaching MMA at Agoge MMA in Dusseldorf, Germany.
So how do we remember a guy like Gilbert Yvel? Much like Mike Kyle, Yvel used to be an asshole, then straightened out — but his late-career accomplishments weren’t enough to completely change his legacy. Can we forgive him for a few ugly nights, considering how long ago those nights were, and how many entertaining moments he’s given us along the way? Check out a few of Yvel’s greatest hits below, and tell us what you think…
(Gilbert Yvel vs. Semmy Schilt, Rings Holland: The Kings of the Magic Ring, 6/20/99)
(Gilbert Yvel vs. Gary Goodridge, PRIDE 10, 8/27/00)
(Gilbert Yvel vs. Ibragim Magomedov, M-1 MFC: Russia vs the World 2, 11/11/01)
(Gilbert Yvel vs. Cheick Kongo, It’s Showtime 2004 Amsterdam, 5/20/04)
(Gilbert Yvel vs. Fabiano Scherner, Cage Rage 17, 7/1/06)
(Gilbert Yvel vs. Pedro Rizzo, Ultimate Chaos: Lashley vs. Sapp, 6/27/09)
(Gilbert Yvel vs. Houston Alexander, RFA 2, 3/30/13)
Every great sport has been built on the backs of men who absolutely sucked at it — athletes whose hapless failures made the champions’ triumphs look even more outstanding by comparison. Baseball has its Mario Mendozas, its Bob Kammeyers, its Pete Rose Jrs. We have our Joe Sons, our Tiki Ghosns, our James Toneys. So in honor of the brave competitors who proved that MMA is even harder than it looks, we humbly present this “tribute” to the worst UFC fighters of all time.
A couple of notes to start: 1) We chose fighters solely based on their performances inside the Octagon. Some of these fighters achieved great things in other organizations, before or after their time in the UFC; for the purposes of this feature, we’re not really interested in that. 2) Instead of ranking one form of suckitude against another, we’ll group the 50 fighters into sections and arrange them chronologically. Use the links below to navigate, and if we omitted anybody notable, please let us know in the comments section.
Every great sport has been built on the backs of men who absolutely sucked at it — athletes whose hapless failures made the champions’ triumphs look even more outstanding by comparison. Baseball has its Mario Mendozas, its Bob Kammeyers, its Pete Rose Jrs. We have our Joe Sons, our Tiki Ghosns, our James Toneys. So in honor of the brave competitors who proved that MMA is even harder than it looks, we humbly present this “tribute” to the worst UFC fighters of all time.
A couple of notes to start: 1) We chose fighters solely based on their performances inside the Octagon. Some of these fighters achieved great things in other organizations, before or after their time in the UFC; for the purposes of this feature, we’re not really interested in that. 2) Instead of ranking one form of suckitude against another, we’ll group the 50 fighters into sections and arrange them chronologically. Use the links below to navigate, and if we omitted anybody notable, please let us know in the comments section.
When “Style vs. Style” usually meant “Talented vs. Untalented.”
1. Art Jimmerson (UFC record: 0-1) Sole appearance: UFC 1, 11/12/93
Even before we really understood what the UFC was, it was clear that Art Jimmerson didn’t belong there. What was a one-gloved boxer going to accomplish in a no-holds-barred fighting competition? In the end, the glove gimmick was completely beside the point. Jimmerson wasn’t able to land a single punch with either hand before he was taken down by early franchise star Royce Gracie, and tapped out before Gracie even got a chance to sink a submission hold. These days, Art is gainfully employed as the head boxing instructor at the UFC Gym in Rosemead, California, and spends his free time calling out Kimbo Slice. Legend.
2. Fred Ettish (0-1) Sole appearance: UFC 2, 3/11/94
A kenpo karate stylist who wanted to challenge himself beyond point-fighting tournaments, Ettish sent a letter to Art Davie asking for a spot on UFC 2, and was brought on as a stand-by alternate when Ken Shamrock broke his hand before the event. But instead of letting Ettish warm up and keep focused backstage, the UFC tried to kill two birds with one stone by having Ettish wrangle fighters at the arena, Burt Watson-style. When Frank Hamaker injured his hand during his round-of-16 victory over Thaddeus Luster, shit got very real, very fast:
“I’d just brought up [Minoki] Ichihara, the guy who fought Royce in the first round. I was going downstairs to find the next fighter at the same time Rorion Gracie was coming up the stairs. He grabbed me by the arm and asked, ‘Are you ready to fight?’…I had to go find my guys in the crowd, drag them backstage, get my gear, stretch and try to get myself prepared. This all happened in about a 10-minute window, and I was headed out to the Octagon…I wasn’t able to get my mind right. I checked out psychologically.”
Johnny Rhodes destroyed him. Ettish’s front-kicks were more of an annoyance to his opponent than anything else, and by the time Rhodes knocked him to the mat and began firing strikes from above, Ettish only had the “earthquake defense” to protect him. Rhodes eventually won by way of a choke-hold that he seemed to have invented on the spot. Luckily, Ettish didn’t get discouraged. He went on to open a Pat Miletich-affiliated MMA gym, and returned to competition in 2009, scoring a first-round TKO of a guy who was half his age. See? Nice guys don’t always finish last.
3. Emmanuel Yarborough (0-1) Sole appearance: UFC 3, 9/9/94
Manny Yarborough proved that a 416-pound weight advantage was no advantage at all, especially if you have zero practical combat training outside of shoving other fat guys, and you can’t get off the floor without assistance. As soon as his opponent Keith Hackney landed a Hail Mary palm strike, Yarborough tumbled to the mat and nearly swallowed Hackney up in his massive gravitational pull. After a re-start due to Octagon gate-failure, Hackney pot-shotted Yarborough until he was able to knock the big sumo down again, then smashed Manny with blows from above until Big John McCarthy was forced to intervene. Yarborough wasn’t invited back to the UFC, though he did pick up a win via smother-submission during a Shooto fight four years later.
4. Joe Son (0-1) Sole appearance: UFC 4, 12/16/94
Maybe we’re biased, considering he’s arguably the worst person who ever competed in the UFC. When Joe Son cut his creepy UFC 4 promo in which he threatened to show us “the spirit of the Lord of Jesus Christ tonight,” nobody knew that he had participated in the horrifying kidnapping and gang-rape of a woman on Christmas Eve 1990, a crime that wouldn’t catch up to him until 2008. Once again, Keith Hackney played the role of regulator, repeatedly slugging Joe Son in the balls during their fight — perfectly legal back then, mind you — before making the “Joe Son Do” practitioner tap due to a choke.
How did a guy who never lost in the UFC make it onto this list? Well, just watch the video of Jon Hess‘s UFC 5 fight against Andy Anderson, and it’ll start to make a lot of sense. A co-founder of SAFTA — that’s Scientific Aggressive Fighting Technology of America, noob — Hess decided to pursue MMA after watching UFC 4 and concluding that he could beat Royce Gracie “very easily.” But once he got in the Octagon and started flailing around like a spaz, it wasn’t clear that he’d ever studied a real martial art. And despite his size advantage against Anderson, Hess resorted to blatant eye-gouging twice in order to get out of trouble.
In short, Hess was completely unathletic, would have been destroyed by any fighter his own size, and was most likely a total asshole to begin with. The UFC reportedly fined him $2,000 for his fouls and never allowed him back. In his second (and final) MMA fight the following year, Hess was invited to face Vitor Belfort at a SuperBrawl event on four days’ notice, and by the power of Christ, Belfort set the karmic balance back in order.
6. John Matua (0-1) Sole appearance: UFC 6, 7/14/95
And now, the internal monologue of everybody who watched UFC 6 live: “Damn, John Matua looks like a beast. Did Michael Buffer just say he studies the ‘brutal Hawaiian art of bone-breaking?’ Yeesh…R.I.P., random biker guy. It’s kind of weird that I’ve been subscribing to Black Belt magazine for the last three years and yet I’ve never heard of Kuialua; I’ll have to ask my sensei about ways to defend against it. Okay, they’re fighting, and HOLY CRAP, TANK IS BEATING HIS ASS! BONE-BREAKING HAS BEEN EXPOSED AS USELESS IN A NO-HOLDS-BARRED SCENARIO! PIT-FIGHTING IS THE FUTURE! Oh man, is Matua dead? He’s definitely dead. Wow. Best $14.99 I’ve ever spent. [puts on Everclear CD]” See also:Thomas Ramirez
7. Paul Herrera (0-1) Sole appearance: UFC 8, 2/16/96
8. Moti Horenstein (0-2) First appearance: UFC 10, 7/12/96 Final appearance: UFC 14, 7/27/97
With a background in karate, kickboxing, and krav maga, Israeli striker Moti Horenstein wasn’t looking to roll around the mat with anybody. His game-plan in the cage was to unleash the kind of vicious kicks that would later score him a Guinness World Record in baseball-bat breaking. (Yes, there is such a thing.) Unfortunately, Moti’s luck in drawing opponents was cosmically, hilariously bad. Horenstein debuted in the quarterfinals of UFC 10′s open-weight tournament against former NCAA Division I wrestling champion Mark Coleman, who swiftly took him down and unleashed his trademark ground-and-pound until Horenstein tapped from strikes at the 2:43 mark.
Horenstein gave it another shot the following year, entering UFC 14′s four-man heavyweight tournament. And who was his opponent this time? None other than former NCAA Division I wrestling champion Mark Kerr, who was simply a larger, younger, and more savage version of Mark Colemon. Bleacher Report aptly described the match as ”the worst case of a Jew being led to slaughter since Jesus.” Horenstein got TKO’d in 2:22 and thankfully never showed up in the UFC again.
9. Reza Nasri (0-1) Sole appearance: UFC 11, 9/20/96
The UFC’s pre-Zuffa era featured two short-lived Iranian prospects — Tae Kwon Do stylist Saeed Hosseini, who competed at UFC 13, and Reza Nasri, who preceded him by three events. (Coincidentally, both fighters were matched up against juiced-up Americans wearing form-fitting Stars ‘n’ Stripes briefs, which made it clear who the fans were supposed to root for.) But while Hosseini put in a valiant effort before being TKO’d by Jack Nilsson, Nasri didn’t do anything for the budding reputation of Iranian MMA, getting beat down by Brian Johnston in under 30 seconds.
Nasri entered the Octagon with a Greco-Roman wrestling background, but it wasn’t clear if he’d done any striking training before joining the eight-man tournament at UFC 11, and he certainly hadn’t taken any jiu-jitsu lessons — you can tell that by the way he completely stopped fighting after Johnston put him on his back. Perhaps Nasri was waiting for the ref to award Johnston three points and stand them back up. Instead, Johnston unleashed a torrent of head-butts (still technically legal in those days) and punches that ended the Iranian’s UFC career as quickly as it began. Now, if Johnston had only come at Nasri with a knife in slow-motion, who knows what would have happened?
10. Tony Halme (0-1) Sole appearance: UFC 13, 5/30/97
Unlike the inept first-timers in this section, Tony Halme already had a proven history of failure in MMA by the time he made it to the UFC, racking up an 0-3 record for Japan’s RINGS promotion. A former professional wrestler who had competed in the WWF under the name Ludvig Borga, the hulking, tatted-up Finn certainly looked like your stereotypical cage-fighter/Aryan prison-gang leader. But against a top-shelf wrestler like Randy Couture, he was roadkill.
Halme met the Natural in the semi-finals of UFC 13′s four-man heavyweight tournament — which happened to be Couture’s MMA debut — and opened the bout by running directly into a double-leg takedown. Couture easily placed the 300-pounder on the mat, transitioned to Halme’s back, then finished him with a choke, all in just 56 seconds. It was the last attempt at MMA for Halme, who went on to win a seat in Finland’s parliament for the ultra-right-wing True Finns party, before spiraling into drug-and-alcohol-fueled insanity, and killing himself in January 2010. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer person.
11. Greg “Ranger” Stott (0-1) Sole appearance: UFC 15, 10/17/97
His entire MMA career lasted only 17 seconds, but it taught us so much. For one thing, being 240 pounds doesn’t necessarily make you a heavyweight — sometimes it just means you need to reduce your carb intake. Also, the Octagon is no place to test out new martial arts systems that you made up in your garage. So it went with Greg Stott, an Army Ranger who debuted his own Ranger Intensive Program (“RIP rules, and all other styles rest in peace“) at UFC 15 against the nightmare-inducing Mark Kerr, a true heavyweight in every sense of the word. After Stott tossed out a few awful-looking jabs to demonstrate how unqualified he was, Kerr clinched up and launched an Overeem-esque knee straight up the middle, putting Stott’s lights out. The Mississippi fans booed the quick stoppage, angry that Kerr didn’t literally beat Stott to death. Indeed, it was a crowd that desired bloodshed above all else.
12. Yoji Anjo (0-3) First appearance: UFC Ultimate Japan 1, 12/21/97 Final appearance: UFC 29, 12/16/00
The four-man heavyweight tournament at Ultimate Japan 1 featured two Japanese professional wrestlers, who entered as a publicity stunt for their Kingdom Pro Wrestling league. One of them was Kazushi Sakuraba, a last-minute injury replacement who managed to win the tournament and went on to become an MMA megastar in Japan. The other was Yoji Anjo, whose fight career couldn’t have turned out more differently. After losing a 15-minute decision to American fan-favorite Tank Abbott, Anjo was booked on two subsequent Japanese UFC cards, for no other reason than his nationality. In a pair of mismatches against middleweight up-and-comers, Anjo was choked out by Murilo Bustamante at UFC 25: Ultimate Japan 3 and TKO’d by Matt Lindland at UFC 29. Yoji Anjo retired from MMA competition with an overall record of 0-5-1. The fact that he was also responsible for the most epically failed dojo-storming attempt in martial arts history is a tale for another day. See also:Daiju Takase
13. Chris Condo (0-1) Sole appearance: UFC 20, 5/7/99
I’m going to be honest with you — I don’t know a damn thing about Chris Condo. I don’t know where he came from, and I don’t know what became of him after his brief stint in the UFC. Maybe he was simply a spectator who was asked to replace a fighter who had dropped out at the last minute. Your guess is as good as mine. What I see in the screen-cap above is a heavy-set “grappler” whose dopey, innocent expression is reminiscent of Private Pyle from Full Metal Jacket. When Condo faced Ron Waterman at UFC 20, he was, to quote that movie, in a world of shit; Waterman TKO’d him in just 28 seconds. I remember watching the fight online a while back, and I remember that it was ugly, but the video has disappeared from the Internet. Chris Condo never fought again. His life remains a mystery.
In MMA, like any sport, the participants want to become iconic for what they do within the confines of their sport if not iconic outside of it as well. Yet for the majority of fighters, they may never become truly iconic, but they may have signature m…
In MMA, like any sport, the participants want to become iconic for what they do within the confines of their sport if not iconic outside of it as well. Yet for the majority of fighters, they may never become truly iconic, but they may have signature moments that define certain parts of their careers. These signatures can be good or bad depending on who’s looking, but they are there nonetheless. This list is of the signatures of a wide range of fighters, from future hall-of-famers to tomato cans.
The way that I chose the signatures listed is if you showed someone who had never seen much of MMA videos covering the entire careers of the listed fighters, what would they most remember? Those moments are what make up this list.
We may be in the midst of a Zuffa drought, but that doesn’t mean we must thirst for knockouts. Last night Resurrection Fighting Alliance hooked up with Sherdog to bring you a live stream of their second card, which featured a pair of heavy hitters and a pioneer of the sport. Jens Pulver also returned to action for the promotion, though thankfully it was in the announcer’s booth this time.
The evening’s main event promised brain damage, and it lived up to our expectations. Houston Alexander displayed the one-strike power that launched his UFC-career, stammering Gilbert Yvel with an overhand right before knocking him down with a leg kick all in the opening thirty seconds of the bout. Yvel looked reserved in his second bout as a light-heavyweight, though against a brawler like Alexander pretty much everyone looks passive. “The Hurricane” started to open up in the latter half of the first round, and with just over a minute remaining on the clock he connected with a left hook that rocked Alexander followed by a big right hand that dropped him face first to the canvas–time to update our planking homage. That’s two straight wins for the recently re-invented 205’er and the second consecutive knockout loss for “The Assassin”.
Join us after the jump for videos and recaps of the Maurice Smith-Jorge Cordoba and Tara LaRosa-Kelly Warren bouts.
Yvel vs Alexander (spoiler: no flying triangles)
We may be in the midst of a Zuffa drought, but that doesn’t mean we must thirst for knockouts. Last night Resurrection Fighting Alliance hooked up with Sherdog to bring you a live stream of their second card, which featured a pair of heavy hitters and a pioneer of the sport. Jens Pulver also returned to action for the promotion, though thankfully it was in the announcer’s booth this time.
The evening’s main event promised brain damage, and it lived up to our expectations. Houston Alexander displayed the one-strike power that launched his UFC-career, stammering Gilbert Yvel with an overhand right before knocking him down with a leg kick all in the opening thirty seconds of the bout. Yvel looked reserved in his second bout as a light-heavyweight, though against a brawler like Alexander pretty much everyone looks passive. “The Hurricane” started to open up in the latter half of the first round, and with just over a minute remaining on the clock he connected with a left hook that rocked Alexander followed by a big right hand that dropped him face first to the canvas–time to update our planking homage. That’s two straight wins for the recently re-invented 205′er and the second consecutive knockout loss for “The Assassin”.
Smith-Cordoba bout. The beginning of the end starts at 15:50.
In a battle against father time, fifty year old Maurice Smith climbed back into the cage for the first time in four years to take on Jorge Cordoba. Though the the twenty eight year old had youth on his side, he was reportedly fighting outside of his normal weight class for this bout. The former UFC Heavyweight champ used footwork and head movement to avoid the Cordoba’s lunging haymakers early in the round, and rolled through a takedown attempt to end the frame on top and in control. Smith showed the sort of calm composure that other Mo’s could learn from, easily avoiding Cordoba’s frenzied punches while bloodying his face and punishing his left thigh with kicks. Smith, who was making his light heavyweight debut, landed everything he threw, which unfortunately for Cordoba included a right high kick to the chin that crumpled him to the mat.
And in WMMA action, Tara LaRosa scored an armbar victory over Kelly Warren at 4:59 of the third and final round!(!!!) Man, last second finishes, they’re so hot right now.
