01-05-2025
Who is Mark Kerr? The Smashing Machine true story explained
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson heads back into the fighting ring in his new movie The Smashing Machine - but his real-life character Mark Kerr's career was much more dangerous than any WWE match.
Johnson, who started his career as professional wrestler The Rock before branching out into acting, will play Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) legend Kerr in the film, due to be released in October and which has just dropped its first trailer.
Even for non-UFC fans, Kerr's story is a fascinating one, from fighting to his relationship and struggles with substance abuse.
Kerr is a mixed martial arts (MMA) and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) star from the US who was awarded many championship titles and medals over his long career.
He had dreamed of becoming a wrestler with the WWF (later WWE) and one of his regular freestyle wrestling opponents in the 90s was Kurt Angle, who would go on to become a household name in the WWF. But after Kerr lost out to Angle on getting a place in the 1996 Summer Olympics, he decided to refocus his career on MMA.
Competing in MMA had started out as a way for Kerr to earn money while he was pursuing amateur wrestling, but he quickly became a sought-after athlete and was later invited to take part in the UFC, a controversial MMA league known for its brutal fights.
Watch the trailer for The Smashing Machine
The UFC has been criticised for its no holds barred approach to fighting and campaigners have tried to get the organisation banned. Kerr's style of fighting and success in the sport led to his nickname The Smashing Machine.
He was one of the biggest names in the UFC during the 90s and was snapped up by Japanese league the Pride Fighting Championships.
But while Pride was a more lucrative gig, the matches were terrifyingly violent, which contributed to Kerr's reliance on painkillers. His addiction cut short his fighting career after he was hospitalised from an overdose and went to rehab to get sober.
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A post shared by Franci Alberding Kerr (@franci_alberding)
Kerr did go on to fight again in the 2000 Pride Grand Prix, but took a brutal beating in the quarter-finals and is now retired from the sport.
Former UFC champion and Kerr's trainer Bas Rutten told Sports Illustrated in 2015: "He was such an animal inside the ring and a total gentleman outside. We knew he had that quality that once he went in the cage or the ring he would just go ballistic."
Kerr added to the magazine of his substance addiction: "The prescription narcotics mixed with alcohol turns into a sloppy existence. When a bottle of alcohol takes your will it's a little bit harder because I'm fighting myself."
Eventually, Kerr gave up his fighting career, saying in 2010 that he had mostly retired from the ring. By 2015, the former fighter had changed his career to working for a Toyota dealership.
He married partner Dawn Staples, played by Emily Blunt in The Smashing Machine, in 2000 but as viewers of the film will see she was uncomfortable with his riskily violent career in fighting, leading to many rows between the couple. They had a son together but split in 2015.
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A post shared by Franci Alberding Kerr (@franci_alberding)
In recent years, Kerr revealed that he had been suffering from peripheral neuropathy, a nerve damage condition that can cause pain, numbness, tremors and unsteadiness. He launched a GoFundMe for his care in 2019, writing: "Mark has suffered with peripheral neuropathy for the last 3 years. Over the last 6 months it has made it almost impossible to work. He has suffered in silence because pain medication is not a option."
UFC and MMA fans might already have seen a 2002 documentary of the same name which gave a raw account of Kerr's career in no holds barred fighting and reliance on painkillers, as well as his volatile relationship with Staples.
John Hyams who made the documentary said: "I don't think Mark liked hurting people but he was very good at it. I think that was part of what his internal struggle was."
The Smashing Machine film will be familiar ground to those who have watched the documentary, even opening with the same scene of Kerr in a doctor's waiting room with a black eye trying to explain the mentality of a UFC contestant to an elderly woman.
Starring Johnson and Blunt, it focuses on the couple's romance and Staples' discomfort with Kerr's fighting career as well as his escalating painkiller addiction. It also follows his friend and fellow fighter Mark Coleman's parallel campaign to make it back to the top of the championships.
The film, co-written by Kerr, also features his training mentor, fighter and actor Bas Rutten, as himself and is due to be released in cinemas in October 2025.
Kerr posted his respect for Johnson's portrayal on Instagram, writing: "I am still in disbelief that this is real. I am so proud of the work DJ put into becoming The Smashing Machine. I have so much gratitude, humility and respect for ever litlle detail production uncovered. Can't wait to share this experience with the world."
The Smashing Machine premieres in UK cinemas on 3 October.
