Mark Kerr

Some Lesser Known Facts About Mark Kerr

• When he was a child, Mark Kerr dreamed of joining the WWF. He used to play pretend matches with his sibling in the backyard of his house.

  

• In 1983, Kerr started practising wrestling at Bettendorf High School in Bettendorf, Iowa, where UFC champion Pat Miletich was his senior.

• After completing his first year, Kerr’s family moved to Toledo, Ohio.

  

• There, he became a high school state wrestling champion for Toledo Waite High School.

  

• During his studies at Syracuse University, in 1992, he became the Division I wrestling champion in the 190-pound category.

• In the same year, he was named an All-American.

• He became a three-time EIWA champion in 1989, 1991, and 1992, and was a runner-up in 1988.

• In 1992 and 1993, he won the Fletcher Award for scoring the most points for his team.

• In 1992, he finished second at the World Cup.

• He won the USA World Team Trials in 1993 and 1994.

• He secured 7th position at the 1993 World Championships.

• In 1996, when he lost to Kurt Angle and missed the 1996 Olympics, Kerr decided to pursue Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).

• During his training period as a wrestler, Mark Kerr got interested in MMA to make money.

• Once, he and his two friends, Mark Coleman and Tom Erikson, were noticed by Richard Hamilton, who had worked for UFC fighter Don Frye.

  

• Hamilton wanted to put Kerr in UFC 10 to fight Frye, but the plan did not happen, and Mark Coleman took the opportunity.

• Later, Kerr was trained with Coleman and fought in the World Vale Tudo Championship 3 in Brazil in January 1997.

• Before this fight, people were excited to see Kerr fight, as other wrestlers like Coleman and Erikson were already popular in MMA.

• Some doubted Kerr’s fighting ability, including Kerr himself.

• Kerr was not sure about his ability. Hamilton used to threaten him by saying that the Brazilian crowd might riot and kill him if he refused to fight.

• In 1997, Mark Kerr made his MMA debut at WVC 3 against Paul Varelans, a UFC veteran.

• The fight lasted for two minutes. Kerr took Varelans down and finished him with punches and knees.

• After that, he fought against Mestre Hulk, a capoeira teacher, known for beating BJJ fighter Amaury Bitteti.

• During the fight, Kerr broke two of Hulk’s teeth on the ground. Hulk crawled out of the ring and was disqualified.

• In the finals, Kerr fought against Fabio Gurgel, a jiu-jitsu expert. He took Gurgel down easily and hit him with punches and elbows.

• The fight lasted for 30 minutes. Gurgel tried submissions like armlocks and triangle chokes, but Kerr avoided them and kept striking. The judges stopped the fight after 30 minutes and declared Kerr the winner and gave him the tournament title.

  

• After his wins in Brazil, Mark Kerr was invited to fight in the UFC.

• He learnt about UFC from his friend Mark Coleman, a UFC champion.

• In 1997, Kerr made his UFC debut at UFC 14 and fought in the heavyweight tournament.

• His first fight was against Moti Horenstein, a Krav Maga fighter, and Kerr won the fight.

  

• In the finals, he beat the fighter Dan Bobish with a rare submission. This win made him the UFC 14 Heavyweight Tournament Champion.

• Kerr returned for UFC 15 and fought in a tournament.

• His first fight was against Greg Stott. Kerr knocked him in 17 seconds with a knee to the head.

• In the final, Kerr beat Dwayne Cason in under a minute and won the UFC 15 Heavyweight Tournament.

• After UFC 15, Kerr left the UFC and chose to fight in Pride FC in Japan. There, he was paid more.

• In 1998, he was selected to fight against Royce Gracie at Pride 2, but Gracie later withdrew after requesting no time limits or referee stoppages.

  

• Kerr then fought against Branco Cikatic. He used his usual ground-and-pound style. He took Branco down and attacked him with punches and submissions.

• During this period, he became one of the best heavyweight MMA fighters in the world.

• Kerr won four fights from Pride 2 to Pride 6. He fought with fighter Igor Vovchanchyn at Pride 7 and was knocked out by illegal knees. The loss was later changed to a no-contest.

• After fighting with Vovchanchyn, Kerr entered the Pride Grand Prix 2000.

• He won his first match against fighter Enson Inoue and moved to the finals, where he lost to fighter Kazuyuki Fujita.

• Kerr beat fighter Igor Borisov by submission at Pride 10.

• He had a rematch with Vovchanchyn at Pride 12, but lost by decision.

• Kerr then fought with fighter Heath Herring at Pride 15 and lost by TKO.

• He took a break from MMA after losing two back-to-back matches.

• In the 1999 ADCC Championship, Kerr fought in the +99 kg category and beat Carlos Barreto, Josh Barnett, Chris Haseman, and Sean Alvarez.

  

• In the 2000 ADCC Championship, he won the +99 kg category by defeating Josh Barnett, Anthony Netzler, Rigan Machado, and Ricco Rodriguez and also won the absolute division by defeating Léo Vieira, Mike van Arsdale, Ricardo Almeida, and Sean Alvarez.

• In 2002, HBO released a documentary film titled The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr. The film was directed by John Hyams. The film showed Kerr’s career and his addiction to painkillers.

  

• In 2003, Kerr lost the Superfight title to fighter Ricardo Arona.

• He returned in 2004 at Pride 27 and fought with Yoshisha Yamamoto.

• Within the 40 seconds of the fight, Kerr accidentally hit his head into the canvas while trying a takedown. Yamamoto took him down with punches, and Kerr lost the fight.

• Kerr left the promotion after the third Pride loss.

• His friend Mark Coleman once said that Kerr was often scared before fights and felt nervous. This led him to take painkillers.

• He planned a comeback fight against fighter Wes Sims on 6 May 2006, in ACF, but could not fight due to a hand injury.

• On 11 February 2007, Kerr fought against Mustafa Al Turk at Cage Rage 20. He slipped after a kick and was submitted in the first round.

• In November 2007, he fought at WCO and won against fighter Steve Gavin.

• In March 2008, Kerr fought against fighter Chuck Huus and won by submission (Americana) at CCCF, Battle on the Border.

• In April 2008, he lost to fighter Oleg Taktarov in the first round by kneebar.

  

• In June 2008, Kerr was choked out in the first round by deaf fighter Tracy Willis at a C-3 Fights event organised in Oklahoma.

• On 26 July, fighter Ralph Kelly defeated Kerr in the first round at Xp3.

• On 27 September 2008, he lost to fighter Jeff Monson by rear-naked choke.

• On 28 August 2009, Kerr fought with fighter Muhammed Lawal at an M-1 Global event and was knocked out in 25 seconds.

• The commentators speculated that Kerr’s career was over, and Guy Mezger stated that Kerr should consider a new career.

• In 2010, Kerr considered himself retired and was studying pharmacy.

• In 2015, he was working at a Toyota dealership.

• In June 2019, he shared with a media house that he had been dealing with peripheral neuropathy since 2016.

• Kerr is an avid powerlifter and could bench press 425 lbs (192.5 kg) and squat 550 lbs (250 kg).

• In 2022, Kerr was inducted into the ADCC Hall of Fame for his achievements.

  

• In October 2025, his biopic titled The Smashing Machine was released, which starred Dwayne Johnson as Kerr and Emily Blunt as Kerr’s girlfriend Dawn Staples. The film was directed by Benny Safdie.