Yvel came into contact with kickboxing and MMA through his brother, and after only two years of training he made his debut at 17 years of age, representing Vos Gym. Gilbert was off to a flying start winning his first 9 fights, primarily fighting for the Fighting Network RINGS promotion, initially only in events hosted by its Dutch brand. One of his first opponents would be Bas Rutten's apprentice Leon Dijk, whom he defeated by KO, as well as "dirty" Bob Schrijber. In another of his performances, he squared off against Russian fighter Vyacheslav Kiselyov in an event promoted by RINGS Holland leader Chris Dolman. This fight would become controversial because Yvel, after getting his leg embraced by Kiselyov in a missed flying knee, grabbed the fence to keep himself vertical and then, still hanging off the cage, delivered several knees and axe kicks on his opponent's head. Yvel would go to win the match by knee strikes shortly after.