Sherdog Preview: PRIDE Open-Weight Grand Prix
Gilbert Yvel vs. Roman Zentsov
May 5, 2006
YVEL: Dutch striker Gilbert Yvel (Pictures) has a professional record of
27-10-1 in MMA. “The Hurricane” was always a good athlete in his
youth participating in cycling, soccer, swimming and gymnastics but
at 16 he fell in love with kickboxing.
After a failed attempt to join the foreign legion at 19, Yvel intended to train at the prestigious Chakuriki Thaiboxing school in Amsterdam but another famous trainer, Lucien Carbin lived near Yvel’s father and he opted to train there. Carbin molded the raw talent of Yvel and had him fighting MMA just two months later.
He lost via disqualification but he knew this was the life for him.
Gilbert also trained with RINGS veteran Chris Dolman and it was Dolman who
introduced him to the Free Fight promotion.
Yvel would fight for RINGS Holland and other small promotions and knocked out all seven of his opponents in 1997 (including back-to-back KOs to win the M-1 World Championship tournament). He submitted Bob Schrijber (Pictures) in their first meeting in 1998 but the rivals would meet twice more. Yvel was KO’d by “Dirty Bob” two months later at the IMA KO Power Tournament. Their final meeting was four years later at the 2 Hot 2 Handle 4 show in Rotterdam, Holland and Gilbert won the rubber match stopping his fellow Dutchman with strikes.
Yvel would continue to mount wins over well known fighters including Lee Hasdell, Valentijn Overeem, Todd Medina and Semmy Schilt (Pictures) (another must-see fight). He pounded Chute Boxe fighter Fabio Piamonte (Pictures) in the WVC (who can forget the footage by the pool) and KO’d KOTC veteran Dennis Reed (Pictures) before taking part in the first RINGS King of Kings tournament. He scored an easy win in the first round and met Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (Pictures) in his second bout.
Yvel fought “TK” a total of three times in ’99 (twice on the RINGS Rise tour and the bout in the KoK tournament). Both of Yvel’s wins were on cut stoppages and Gilbert was injured in the other bout. “The Hurricane” pounded Joop Kasteel then lost a decision in the next round of the tournament to eventual title winner Dan Henderson (Pictures).
He would score two more wins via strikes over Brian Dunn and Kiyoshi Tamura (Pictures) before making his PRIDE debut in 2000 at PRIDE 9 in a decision loss to Vitor Belfort (Pictures). At PRIDE 10 he KO’d Gary Goodridge (Pictures) in just 28 seconds and the win goes down as his favorite win ever (he even has a tattoo for it) and returned to PRIDE 11 to face Wanderlei Silva (Pictures).
This could’ve been a classic but Silva inadvertently struck Yvel in the groin and the Dutchman could not continue. A boring bout at PRIDE 12 with Kazuyuki Fujita (Pictures) ended in a decision for the former Antonio Inoki disciple but Yvel followed it up with a KO of Carlos Barreto via flying knee.
Gilbert suffered back-to-back losses in the PFC when he was submitted by Igor Vovchanchyn (Pictures) at PRIDE 14 and was disqualified for eye gouging Don Frye (Pictures) at PRIDE 16. A trip to Russia and a bout in the M-1 produced a submission win over PFC veteran Ibragim Magomedov (Pictures). He beat Schrijber for a final time and lost a decision to Jeremy Horn (Pictures) at PRIDE 21. That was his last PFC appearance for three years. Yvel returned to the M-1 and drew with undefeated Euphoria fighter Daniel Tabera (Pictures) and KO’d Cheik Kango at an It’s Showtime event in ’04.
The infamous bout at the Fight Festival 12 was next. Gilbert was fighting Atte Backman but lashed out and KO’d the referee just 30 seconds into the match. He also kicked the man while he was lying semi-conscious on the ground.
He returned to PRIDE in ’05, facing Ikuhisa Minowa (Pictures) at PRIDE Bushido 6 and was submitted in the first round via toehold. In recent competition Gilbert armbarred PFC veteran and former Golden Glory teammate Valentijn Overeem at the It’s Showtime last June.
ZENTSOV: Roman Zentsov (Pictures) is a mix-fight stylist from the Red Devil Sports Club and carries a MMA record of 11-10. He trains with Amar Suloev (Pictures) and Aleksander and Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures). Roman began wrestling at 10 and stayed with the sport for five years.
He moved on to striking arts including boxing and kickboxing, hand-to-hand combat training and karate. Over the years he continued to hone his fighting style and took up the sport of MMA about six years ago.
Competing in the M-1, Zentsov took part in the 2000 Mix-Fight European Championship, losing in the final bout of a four-man tournament by KO to former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski (Pictures).
The event featured Zentsov, Arlovski and a cast of well-known athletes including Todd Medina, Mark Smith (Mark Smith' class='LinkSilver'>Pictures), Darrel Gholar and Red Devil teammates Martin Malkhasyan, Amar Suloev (Pictures) and Andrei Semenov (Pictures). Roman continued to fight in the M-1 promotion as well as other smaller shows like Millenium Sports (lost to RINGS star Joop Kasteel), BARS (KO’d by Russian nightmare Bazigit Atajev) and the always-entertaining Too Hot To Handle promotion.
In 2001, Zentsov battled PFC veteran and recent K-1 Las Vegas tournament winner Chalid Arrab (Pictures), knocking him out in under a minute. 2002 started poorly (being submitted by PFC Middleweight GP semifinalist by Alistair Overeem (Pictures)) but he finished on a 3-0 run including a decision win over UFC 55 participant Alessio Sakara (Pictures).
MFC 6 pitted Zentsov against PRIDE veteran Bob Schrijber (Pictures) and the Russian submitted “Dirty Bob” early in the first round with a neck crank. Roman was riding a four-fight losing streak dating back to 2/04. This included a cut stoppage in the MFC Euphoria promotion at the hands of UFC veteran Travis Wiuff (Pictures) and an injury stoppage loss to Ruas Vale Tudo fighter Antoine Jaoude (Pictures) (also in the MFC).
Fabricio Werdum (Pictures) easily submitted Zentsov at the ’05 PRIDE Final Conflict show but Roman came back to KO PFC veteran Ibragim Magomedov (Pictures) in an M-1 event last November. Zentsov knocked out UFC veteran Pedro Rizzo (Pictures) in the first round of PRIDE 31, building on his recent success.
MY PICK: This is an interesting battle. We should have a hell of a stand-up war and we may even see Yvel show off some grappling skills. Zentsov and Yvel have trained together with Red Devil and Golden Glory having some crossover history so they may know each other’s styles well. I expect Yvel to come out and try to get one of his infamous flying knee KO’s (he has three or four to his credit). Whoever gets the upper hand, it likely won’t go outside the first round and this was exactly why the bout was signed.
After a failed attempt to join the foreign legion at 19, Yvel intended to train at the prestigious Chakuriki Thaiboxing school in Amsterdam but another famous trainer, Lucien Carbin lived near Yvel’s father and he opted to train there. Carbin molded the raw talent of Yvel and had him fighting MMA just two months later.
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Yvel would fight for RINGS Holland and other small promotions and knocked out all seven of his opponents in 1997 (including back-to-back KOs to win the M-1 World Championship tournament). He submitted Bob Schrijber (Pictures) in their first meeting in 1998 but the rivals would meet twice more. Yvel was KO’d by “Dirty Bob” two months later at the IMA KO Power Tournament. Their final meeting was four years later at the 2 Hot 2 Handle 4 show in Rotterdam, Holland and Gilbert won the rubber match stopping his fellow Dutchman with strikes.
Yvel also earned his first disqualification in ’98 for biting the
chest of Shidokan Warrior’s War and Abu Dhabi veteran Karimula Barkalaev. If you
ever see the fight, the best part is watching Barkalaev’s corner
man and RINGS veteran Volk Han
scale the cage and slap around the referee for not catching Yvel’s
infraction.
Yvel would continue to mount wins over well known fighters including Lee Hasdell, Valentijn Overeem, Todd Medina and Semmy Schilt (Pictures) (another must-see fight). He pounded Chute Boxe fighter Fabio Piamonte (Pictures) in the WVC (who can forget the footage by the pool) and KO’d KOTC veteran Dennis Reed (Pictures) before taking part in the first RINGS King of Kings tournament. He scored an easy win in the first round and met Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (Pictures) in his second bout.
Yvel fought “TK” a total of three times in ’99 (twice on the RINGS Rise tour and the bout in the KoK tournament). Both of Yvel’s wins were on cut stoppages and Gilbert was injured in the other bout. “The Hurricane” pounded Joop Kasteel then lost a decision in the next round of the tournament to eventual title winner Dan Henderson (Pictures).
He would score two more wins via strikes over Brian Dunn and Kiyoshi Tamura (Pictures) before making his PRIDE debut in 2000 at PRIDE 9 in a decision loss to Vitor Belfort (Pictures). At PRIDE 10 he KO’d Gary Goodridge (Pictures) in just 28 seconds and the win goes down as his favorite win ever (he even has a tattoo for it) and returned to PRIDE 11 to face Wanderlei Silva (Pictures).
This could’ve been a classic but Silva inadvertently struck Yvel in the groin and the Dutchman could not continue. A boring bout at PRIDE 12 with Kazuyuki Fujita (Pictures) ended in a decision for the former Antonio Inoki disciple but Yvel followed it up with a KO of Carlos Barreto via flying knee.
Gilbert suffered back-to-back losses in the PFC when he was submitted by Igor Vovchanchyn (Pictures) at PRIDE 14 and was disqualified for eye gouging Don Frye (Pictures) at PRIDE 16. A trip to Russia and a bout in the M-1 produced a submission win over PFC veteran Ibragim Magomedov (Pictures). He beat Schrijber for a final time and lost a decision to Jeremy Horn (Pictures) at PRIDE 21. That was his last PFC appearance for three years. Yvel returned to the M-1 and drew with undefeated Euphoria fighter Daniel Tabera (Pictures) and KO’d Cheik Kango at an It’s Showtime event in ’04.
The infamous bout at the Fight Festival 12 was next. Gilbert was fighting Atte Backman but lashed out and KO’d the referee just 30 seconds into the match. He also kicked the man while he was lying semi-conscious on the ground.
He returned to PRIDE in ’05, facing Ikuhisa Minowa (Pictures) at PRIDE Bushido 6 and was submitted in the first round via toehold. In recent competition Gilbert armbarred PFC veteran and former Golden Glory teammate Valentijn Overeem at the It’s Showtime last June.
ZENTSOV: Roman Zentsov (Pictures) is a mix-fight stylist from the Red Devil Sports Club and carries a MMA record of 11-10. He trains with Amar Suloev (Pictures) and Aleksander and Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures). Roman began wrestling at 10 and stayed with the sport for five years.
He moved on to striking arts including boxing and kickboxing, hand-to-hand combat training and karate. Over the years he continued to hone his fighting style and took up the sport of MMA about six years ago.
Competing in the M-1, Zentsov took part in the 2000 Mix-Fight European Championship, losing in the final bout of a four-man tournament by KO to former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski (Pictures).
The event featured Zentsov, Arlovski and a cast of well-known athletes including Todd Medina, Mark Smith (Mark Smith' class='LinkSilver'>Pictures), Darrel Gholar and Red Devil teammates Martin Malkhasyan, Amar Suloev (Pictures) and Andrei Semenov (Pictures). Roman continued to fight in the M-1 promotion as well as other smaller shows like Millenium Sports (lost to RINGS star Joop Kasteel), BARS (KO’d by Russian nightmare Bazigit Atajev) and the always-entertaining Too Hot To Handle promotion.
In 2001, Zentsov battled PFC veteran and recent K-1 Las Vegas tournament winner Chalid Arrab (Pictures), knocking him out in under a minute. 2002 started poorly (being submitted by PFC Middleweight GP semifinalist by Alistair Overeem (Pictures)) but he finished on a 3-0 run including a decision win over UFC 55 participant Alessio Sakara (Pictures).
MFC 6 pitted Zentsov against PRIDE veteran Bob Schrijber (Pictures) and the Russian submitted “Dirty Bob” early in the first round with a neck crank. Roman was riding a four-fight losing streak dating back to 2/04. This included a cut stoppage in the MFC Euphoria promotion at the hands of UFC veteran Travis Wiuff (Pictures) and an injury stoppage loss to Ruas Vale Tudo fighter Antoine Jaoude (Pictures) (also in the MFC).
Fabricio Werdum (Pictures) easily submitted Zentsov at the ’05 PRIDE Final Conflict show but Roman came back to KO PFC veteran Ibragim Magomedov (Pictures) in an M-1 event last November. Zentsov knocked out UFC veteran Pedro Rizzo (Pictures) in the first round of PRIDE 31, building on his recent success.
MY PICK: This is an interesting battle. We should have a hell of a stand-up war and we may even see Yvel show off some grappling skills. Zentsov and Yvel have trained together with Red Devil and Golden Glory having some crossover history so they may know each other’s styles well. I expect Yvel to come out and try to get one of his infamous flying knee KO’s (he has three or four to his credit). Whoever gets the upper hand, it likely won’t go outside the first round and this was exactly why the bout was signed.
