Early career Kuiper comes from a
judo background and holds a
black belt in the discipline. He made his
mixed martial arts debut in February 2009 and defeated his opponent, Ahmed Sultan, with a triangle choke. He went on to have a further six fights that same year, winning all of them in the first or second round. In 2009 he won the Belgium MMA title, and was rewarded with the MMA fighter of the year 2009. After defeating David Marcina on November 20, 2010, he was set to return to the cage on December 4, 2010 to face Welsh boxer John Phillips at
BAMMA 5: The Beast vs. Crazy Bear in
Newcastle,
England. But due to snowstorms in the UK the event was cancelled.
Ultimate Fighting Championship In his UFC debut Kuiper faced
Rafael Natal on February 4, 2012 at
UFC 143. He lost the back-and-forth fight via unanimous decision. Kuiper faced
Jared Hamman on August 11, 2012 at
UFC 150. Kuiper defeated Hamman via second-round TKO. Kuiper was expected to face
Thiago Perpetuo on January 19, 2013 at
UFC on FX 7. However, Perpetuo suffered an injury and was replaced by
Caio Magalhaes. On December 27, it was announced that Magalhaes had also pulled out of the bout and that Kuiper would be shifted to
UFC on Fox 6 on January 26, 2013 to face Buddy Roberts. It was then announced on January 8 that Roberts had been forced out of the bout with an illness and was replaced by promotional newcomer Josh Janousek. Then just days before the event, Janousek himself pulled out of the bout citing an injury. With no time to find a suitable replacement for Kuiper, he was pulled from the event as well. This meant that 4 potential opponents for Kuiper (Perpetuo, Magalhaes, Roberts and Janousek) had all pulled out of the proposed bout. Kuiper next faced
Tom Lawlor on April 6, 2013 at
UFC on Fuel TV 9. He lost via submission early in the second round. Kuiper faced
Brad Scott on October 26, 2013 at
UFC Fight Night 30. He lost the fight via front choke submission in the first round, and was subsequently released from the promotion shortly after.
Titan FC Kuiper fought fellow former UFC fighter
Matt Riddle in the co-main event of Titan FC 27 on February 28, 2014. Kuiper lost by guillotine choke in the second round. ==Mixed martial arts record==