The Smashing Machine

For some fight fans, he was the greatest fighter of all times, and his monoquer stood true as he mangled fighters across continents and rule sets. Mark Kerr was the first great fighter to transition from a cage to a ring and, though his career has been rocky lately, his story remains one of the greatest in the history of the sport.

Kerr was a National champion in collegiate wrestling, representing Syracuse University. He was impressive not only for his physical strength, but also his technical ability, which allowed him to control any opponent.

He would make his professional MMA debut in January of 1997, fighting in the World Vale Tudo championship, held in Brazil. In the tournament format that Kerr was so familiar with from collegiate wrestling, he would defeat three opponents in one night. While Kerr's first two matches lasted under five minutes, his third fight was a half and hour, and was the first match to really expose the major flaw in his armor: Kerr had no cardiovascular conditioning. While Kerr managed to control his opponent, it would be a small showing of a problem that would haunt him for the rest of his professional career.

After winning the WVC tournament, Kerr moved to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, still in it's early days and without a champion. Kerr fought again in the tournament format that he seemed to understand, and was very popular during the early days of the UFC. He fought twice at that event, UFC 14, defeating Moti Horenstein (a fighter who, while his record doesn't show it, had in with numerous occassions and stepped in with very tough opponents) and Dan Bobish, a very well known brawler. Both fights ended in under 3 minutes, and Kerr proved that even against men his own size, his superior strength, ruthless attack and technical ability was unmatched.

Kerr's monoquer was quickly coming together, and he was being called everything from "The Titan" to "The Smashing Machine." While the latter stuck with him throughout his career, it wasn't just his name that was intimidating. Kerr was a thick wrestler, with a big torso and limbs, and the sheer intimidation of a fighter like Kerr, even in a time when fighters were more like street brawlers and less like professional athletes, gave him an edge, and when coupled with the athleticism of his wrestling career, he became a force in the sport.

Kerr would fight at the UFC's next event, UFC 15, and again take the tournament format with two wins. He defeated Greg "The Ranger" Stott (a long time street fighter who was hurt so badly by Kerr's knee to the head that he gave up the professional circuit) and Dwayne Cason (who would also never fight again, but the reason for that is unknown).

After UFC 15, Mark took his career over seas to fight in Pride FC, which was starting to take off. Kerr would become a major vessel of that success and a dominant force in the ring.

Kerr would begin his career in the single fight format in Pride, fighting at Pride events 2-7, missing only 5. He would beat kickboxing legend Branko "The Croatian Tiger" Cikatic (who was the front runner in the tradition that would spawn fighters like Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic) at Pride 2, Pedro Otavio at Pride 3, Hugo Duarte at Pride 4 (both Duarte and Otavio were very well known wrestlers and charismatic individuals) and Nobuhiko Takada at Pride 6 (Takada would go on to found the Takada dojo, which to this day produces some of the best fighters in Japan and the world). The only fight in Kerr's career, so far, that had gone to a second round was his fight with Duarte, which took him to three, and gave Kerr a chance to show a little bit of cardiovascular ability.

Kerr would draw with "Ice Cold" Igor Vovchanchyn at Pride 7, but the fight would display a serious flaw in Kerr's abilities. Kerr had always been the attacker and always gotten on top of his opponents quickly and dominated them from there. Vovchanchyn maintained his distance and hit Kerr with precision stiking, being careful not to get taken down.

While Kerr's career has struggled lately, his recent fight with Steve Gavin showed some signs of a Kerr we once knew. While he is still a shadow of his former self, the success of his recent documentary, "The Smashing Machine," left us with a better understanding of the troubled, though wildly successful, warrior that he was.

For those still interested in him, or those interested in the beginning of the sport at large, check out the movie, but for all MMA fans, watch his fights. They are statements in physical power and displays by one of the greatest wrestlers to ever step in an octagon.