Gilbert Yvel’s Fond Memories of Getting Pummeled

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Gilbert Yvel, on “The Savage Dog Show,” discussing his January 2009 loss to Josh Barnett:

“I came to fight; Josh just came to take me down. He sat on me for three rounds, punching my head in with punches and elbows. … I remember the last couple of punches, and he almost knocked me out a couple of times. I got some black and white flashes and I was like, ‘All right, that’s enough.’ I think that was awesome. That was fighting. Like, ‘OK, you don’t want to fight with me standing and you take me down? OK, let me stay here and try to punch back and fight back and keep going until I can’t anymore.’ Awesome. My first two black eyes. I even had a split lip. My face was messed up. A couple of my best friends were in town and those people are honest, brutally honest. After the fight I went to my room, took a shower and I [saw] myself in the mirror and I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ I walked upstairs and all my friends were sitting on the stairwell. They turned their heads and they saw me and they were like -- they didn’t know what to say. They all tried look like, ‘Um, um, um,’ but they were all just quiet. It was terrible. I think that was the biggest moment in my career.”