A professional competitor since 1997, Yvel competed in the PRIDE Fighting Championships, Affliction, the UFC, Road FC, the RFA, RINGS, M-1 Challenge, Cage Rage, K-1, and Showtime promotions.

In the following years Yvel came to be considered the best Dutch Heavyweight fighter active on the European fighting circuit.

He got a victory over teammate Valentijn Overeem by TKO, as well as a high level one over RINGS England chief Lee Hasdell.

However, he rallied over in points with a palm strike and a tight guillotine choke, and finally won the match when it was stopped due to accumulated damage to Kohsaka's face.

The fight was met under special rules, with Gilbert keeping his gloves for punching while Schilt preferred to go barehanded and use open palm strikes like it was done in Pancrase.

This time, however, Yvel was forced to spend a rope escape by an early toehold, and shortly after had to defend on the ground after being thrown down by the judo specialist.

He eliminated karate champion Tariel Bitsadze by armbar on the first round, and went to avenge his defeat to Kohsaka in the second, stopping him by a cut caused by a grazing punch.

Again, Yvel was taken down and positionally controlled on the mat, but he resisted successfully Tamura's scarce submission attempts and knocked him out via strikes.

Yvel fought up-and-coming Brazilian Heavyweight Junior dos Santos at UFC 108[6] replacing Gabriel Gonzaga for the bout on 2 January.

[8] Both men circled early on in the fight before Madsen shot for a double-leg takedown that downed Yvel after Gilbert slipped when his knee buckled, they ended up against the cage.

Yvel was scheduled to face former King of the Cage champion Tony Lopez in a PRIDE rules bout at Colosseo Championship Fighting 6: Bushido on 23 July 2011.

[11] Gilbert Yvel cut down to 205-pounds to compete in the Light-Heavyweight division for Resurrection Fighting Alliance (RFA).

[15] Yvel has acquired, through a number of instances, a lingering reputation in the MMA community for his temper and poor sportsmanship in the ring earlier in his career.

[17][18] During Yvel's November 2004 match with Atte Backman, the referee separated the fighters as they were falling over the ropes in a clinched position.

After a number of unsuccessful attempts to restart the fight in the clinched position, Yvel sucker-punched the referee in the head, dropping him to the canvas, and then kicked him while he was down.