He is the only fighter in K-1 history to win the world championship three times in a row, and also shares the record with Ernesto Hoost for most Grands Prix won, with four.
Restarting the fight, Schilt reversed a takedown and got his own mount, but Funaki recovered guard and applied a toehold, forcing the karateka to spend another point.
The two fighters then spent a few minutes clinched on a corner, until Funaki led him to the ground and locked in another toehold from half mount, making Schilt tap out.
The situation repeated itself, but this time Suzuki successfully landed an armbar and Schilt barely reached the ropes to get an escape.
Schilt had a rematch with Masakatsu Funaki on March 18, 1998, at Pancrase: Advance 4, although he managed to take the bout to the judges, he lost on points due to spent rope escapes.
This time, the karateka showed himself capable of stopping the wrestler's takedowns, blocking the first of them with the aid of the ropes and a guillotine choke and reversing the second into Funaki's guard.
After pressing for some minutes and avoiding a kneebar attempt, Schilt got the fight standing and scored a knockdown by two clinched knees.
Funaki stood up and looked to continue the fight, but the Dutchman landed another knockdown, and finally finished him with a combination of knees and palm strikes.
They 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.
Schilt came back and controlled Gilbert with open palms and knees to the body, but decided to take the fight to the ground, not wanting to risk another KO from the RINGS muay Thai specialist.
From that point, the two strikers exchanged hits until Yvel overpowered Schilt, landing multiple unanswered punches for the KO stoppage.
Schilt made his debut in Ultimate Fighting Championship on May 4, 2001, facing fellow Pancrase alumni Pete Williams at UFC 31.
Although Schilt avoided a dangerous armbar attempt at the start of the match, Emelianenko pinned him and scored repeated punches and knees to his face until the end of the round.
Schilt beat Ray Sefo by decision in the quarter-finals and the defending champion Remy Bonjasky via knockout in the semifinals.
Schilt then met Glaube Feitosa in the tournament finals and won via knockout due to a knee strike to win his first K-1 World Grand Prix title.
On April 3, 2007, he defeated Ray Sefo by second-round KO to become K-1's first Super Heavyweight Champion at K-1 World Grand Prix 2007 Yokohama.
On May 16, 2009, Schilt lost to Badr Hari via first-round KO at the Dutch Kickboxing event It's Showtime 2009 Amsterdam, in his home country of the Netherlands.
In April 2010, he successfully made his fourth title defence against teammate Errol Zimmerman by unanimous decision at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 in Yokohama.
[20] In 2012 Schilt returned to the ring with a more aggressive style earning a convincing victories over Brice Guidon and Errol Zimmerman.
At the sixteen-man Glory Heavyweight Grand Slam in Saitama, Japan on December 31, 2012, Schilt rematched Brice Guidon at the first stage of the tournament.
There, he used his eleven-inch height and twenty-seven kilogram weight advantage to outpoint Gokhan Saki to another two-round unanimous points verdict.
Despite Ghiţă seemingly recovering from the blow, referee Joop Ubeda controversially called a halt to the contest, giving Schilt the TKO win and the inaugural Glory Grand Slam crown.