Mark Kerr

Following his success at UFC 14, Kerr was invited to compete at the next UFC tournament — UFC 15. In this tournament, Kerr's first opponent was Greg Stott whom he defeated in 17 seconds from the opening of the fight, winning by way of knockout with a knee to his opponent's head. Advancing to the finals, Kerr fought Dwayne Cason and finished his opponent within the first minute of the opening round, winning the UFC 15 Heavyweight tournament. Kerr's winning of the UFC 15 tournament was his last fight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Following his win of UFC 15, Kerr decided to fight in Japan for the Pride Fighting Championships due to the UFC's promotional difficulties and Pride's larger paychecks.

On July 28, 2009, Kerr faced fellow wrestler Muhammed Lawal at an M-1 Global event. Kerr was taken down and subsequently pounded into unconsciousness in just 25 seconds, receiving several blows to the head after he was clearly unable to defend himself. This led the event's TV commentators to openly speculate that Kerr's fighting career was over. Guy Mezger, in the post-fight discussion, suggested that it was time for Kerr to "find another vocation". Kerr has only won four of his 15 fights since 2000 and has lost each of his last five fights.

In 2008, Kerr launched a comeback. In March, Mark beat Chuck Huus by Submission (Keylock/Americana) at CCCF – Battle on the Border. In April, he lost to Oleg Taktarov in one round by kneebar. Two months later, Kerr was choked out in the opening round by deaf fighter Tracy Willis at a C-3 Fights show in Cocho, Oklahoma. On July 26, Ralph Kelly stopped Kerr in the first round at Xp3. On September 27, 2008 Kerr lost to fellow heavyweight Jeff Monson by rear-naked choke, in a battle of former ADCC champions.

On February 11, 2007, Kerr fought Mustafa Al Turk at Cage Rage 20: 'Born 2 Fight'. Kerr lost his footing after an attempted roundhouse kick and he was mounted, stunned with a series of blows and submitted within the first round. Kerr was supposed to fight Sean O'Haire on August 17 in the Global Fighting Championships first show at the Mohegan Sun Arena but was cancelled due to his high blood pressure and his license was suspended indefinitely.

Mark Kerr fought in the World Cage Fighting Organization (WCO) in November 2007, winning his bout against Steve Gavin by Americana after 1:39 of the first round.

After his loss to Yoshihisa Yamamoto, Kerr was supposed to make his comeback against Wes Sims in the American Championship Fighting (ACF) on May 6, 2006 at the Denver Coliseum, but was not medically cleared to fight due to a hand injury.

In 2004, Kerr returned to PRIDE, fighting Yoshisha Yamamoto at Pride 27. Just forty seconds of the first round, Kerr lost to Yamamoto after inadvertently knocking himself out by driving his own head into the mat while attempting a double leg take down. With his third straight loss under the PRIDE FC banner, Kerr quit PRIDE.

In 2003 Kerr was the subject of an HBO documentary titled The Smashing Machine, which detailed his MMA career fighting in Vale Tudo, the UFC and PRIDE. The Smashing Machine also focused on Kerr's eventual addiction to opiates, his relationships with his then-girlfriend, various training partners, and his friendship with Mark Coleman.

In 2003, HBO aired a documentary titled The Smashing Machine, directed by John Hyams, which dealt with the life and career of Mark Kerr. The program chronicles Kerr's addiction to painkillers and the "no holds barred" aspect of early mixed martial arts competition. Kerr's then-girlfriend, Dawn Staples, and mixed-martial artists Bas Rutten, Kevin Randleman and Mark Coleman also appear in the film. Bas Rutten states clearly during the documentary that due to Kerr's ability to end fights quickly, the tournament directors were removing all of Kerr's 'weapons' (notably head-butts and knees to the head of a grounded opponent) in an attempt to make the fights last longer for television and crowd satisfaction.

Kerr won four bouts between Pride 2 and Pride 6. However, his status was soon questioned after his first bout with Igor Vovchanchyn at Pride 7, in which he was knocked out by illegal knee strikes. Even though the loss was overturned and changed to a "No Contest" ruling, Kerr admitted that the initial loss had been a difficult decision for him to face. Following his fight against Vovchanchyn, Kerr fought in the Pride Grand Prix 2000 Opening Round and won over Enson Inoue. His win against Inoue earned him a place at the Pride Grand Prix 2000 Finals, where he fought Kazuyuki Fujita and lost by decision. At Pride 10 - Return of the Warriors Kerr defeated Igor Borisov by submission. Four months later, at Pride 12 - Cold Fury, he lost by decision in the rematch with Vovchanchyn. Kerr then lost to Heath Herring at Pride 15 via TKO. With his second loss in a row, Kerr decided to take time away from MMA.

Kerr competed in the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship (ADCC), a world class submission wrestling tournament. In 2000, Kerr won the ADCC Open Weight Absolute Tournament. Among the fighters he defeated at ADCC were Carlos "Carlão" Barreto, Sean Alvarez, Ricco Rodriguez, Mike van Arsdale, Josh Barnett and Tony Netcler. It was quite notable at the time when Mark Kerr, Mario Sperry and Royler Gracie were dominating the ADCC each in their own weight classes.

After considering an offer from Japanese promotion Shooto, Kerr signed up with Pride for a matchup against fellow UFC champion Royce Gracie at Pride 2 in 1998. The match, as per Gracie's demands, would have been without time limits or referee stoppages. However, Royce pulled out after the fight had been advertised. Kerr was then slated to fight Branco Cikatic. Kerr utilized the same ground-and-pound fighting style from his previous fights, taking his opponent onto the mat and then using strikes and submissions to try to finish the fight. Kerr was said to be an improved version of Mark Coleman because he was proficient in wrestling, submissions, and take downs, with good cardio and an ever-improving striking game under his tutelage with Bas Rutten. Around the time that Kerr entered PRIDE, many considered Kerr to be one of the top MMA Heavyweight fighters in the world.

While training as an amateur wrestler, Kerr became interested in mixed martial arts as a way to earn money. He, his long-time friend and training partner Mark Coleman and Tom Erikson were initially scouted by Richard Hamilton, who had managed Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter Don Frye until a falling out and was now offering a place in UFC 10 against him. However, nothing came from it, and Coleman ended up hunting down the chance. Eventually, Kerr and Hamilton arranged for the former to train with Coleman and fight at Brazilian event World Vale Tudo Championship 3 in January 1997. His appearance was highly anticipated, as other wrestlers like Coleman or Erikson were already known in the MMA community, though there were doubts about Kerr's true skills. Kerr himself was doubtful about it, to the point Hamilton had to force him to fight under the threat the Brazilian crowd might riot and kill him if he didn't show up.

At Syracuse University, Kerr was the Division I champion at 190 pounds in 1992. Randy Couture, wrestling for Oklahoma State University, took second place. Kerr was also a Division I All-American in 1992. In 1994, Kerr was the USA Senior Freestyle Champion at 220 pounds.

In 1983, Kerr began his wrestling career in Bettendorf, Iowa wrestling as a freshman at Bettendorf High School where he shared the wrestling room with another future MMA champion Pat Miletich who was a senior at the time. After his freshman year at Bettendorf, Kerr and his family moved to Toledo, Ohio where he became a high school state champion wrestling for Toledo Waite.

Mark Kerr (born December 21, 1968 in Toledo, Ohio), also known as The Smashing Machine, The Titan, and The Specimen, is an American champion collegiate wrestler and retired mixed martial artist. During his MMA career he was regarded by many as the best fighter in the world, and was a World Vale Tudo Championship tournament winner, a two-time UFC heavyweight tournament winner, and a PRIDE FC competitor.