Mark Kerr

From CageWiki

1 Profile
2 MMA Debut and UFC
3 PRIDE
4 Return to MMA
5 Mixed martial arts record
6 Gallery
7 External links

Profile

Mark "The Smashing Machine" Kerr (born December 21, 1968) is an American professional mixed martial artist and 1999 and 2000 Openweight Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Champion.

He stands 6 ft. 3 in. (191cm) tall and fights in the heavyweight division at approximately 265 lbs..

Kerr is a former two-time UFC tournament champion and was a quarter finalist in PRIDE's 2000 Open Weight tournament. He is currently unsigned to any promotion.

Kerr has also gone by the nicknames, "The Titan" and "The Specimen".

MMA Debut and UFC

Mark Kerr made his professional mixed martial arts debut on the back of a highly decorated amateur wrestling career which feature Division I All-American honors in 1992 and the USA Senior Freestyle Championship in 1994. He made his MMA debut as part of a one night 8-man tournament held by Brazil's World Vale Tudo Championship on January 19, 1997.

Kerr took out the tournament as he defeated UFC veteran and man mountain, Paul Varelans via TKO, Mestre Hulk via disqualification after Hulk crawled out of the ring and finally Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt, Fabio Gurgel via unanimous decision after 30 minutes. Remarkably, Kerr broke his hand in his opening round bout with Varelans and continued on anyway.

The successful start to his career and his wrestling background prompted a call up to the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He entered UFC 14's heavyweight tournament (200+ lbs.) in July of 1997. Kerr defeated Moti Horenstein in the opening round via quick TKO before submitting Dan Bobish in the final with a chin to the eye (an illegal move that somehow went unnoticed) to take out the tournament.

A little under three months later, Kerr returned to the UFC at UFC 15 to participate in another heavyweight tournament. Kerr made even shorter work of his opponents this time as he crushed Greg "Ranger" Stott with a knee in 17 hilarious seconds. He clinched the tournament with a 53 second domination of Dwayne Cason, submitting Cason with a rear naked choke.

PRIDE

Kerr left the UFC after UFC 15 and signed with Japanese promotion, the PRIDE Fighting Championships. He made his PRIDE debut at PRIDE 2 where he was victorious over 1993 K-1 World Grand Prix Champion, Branco Cikatic via disqualification after Cikatic continously grabbed onto the ring ropes.

Kerr returned at PRIDE 3 where he caught Pedro Otavio in a kimura that forced the ref to stop the fight after just 2:13 of round 1. That victory was followed by a lacklustre third round stoppage over Hugo Duarte at PRIDE 4. Duarte refused to engage for the majority of the bout, and continously dropped to butt scoot from the other side of the ring towards the end of the bout.

In July of 1999, Kerr submitted Japanese professional wrestler, Nobuhiko Takada with a kimura at PRIDE 6 in 3:04 of round 1.

At PRIDE 7, Kerr was given the toughest opponent of his career to date as he was matched up with Ukranian slugger, Igor Vovchanchyn. Kerr looked to have suffered his first professional loss as the referee stopped the bout after Vovchanchyn battered Kerr on the ground with knees. Kerr protested the stoppage saying the strikes were illegal. His protest was upheld and the bout was changed to a no contest.

On January 30, 2000, Kerr faced off against Hawaiian grappler, Enson Inoue as part of PRIDE's 2000 Openweight Grand Prix. Kerr battered Inoue for 15 minutes, finally taking the unanimous decision which earned him a spot in the final eight.

The final eight fights of the tournament were held on the one night on May 1, 2000. Kerr faced Kazuyuki Fujita in the quarter finals with a win matching him up against friend, Mark Coleman later in the night. Kerr would not get that far however, as he was battered by Fujita on the ground for the majority of the 15 minute bout, losing a unanimous decision.

Kerr rebounded from the first loss of his career three months later at PRIDE 10 when he submitted Igor Borisov with a neck crank in just over two minutes.

At PRIDE 12, in December, 2000, Kerr dropped his second bout when he was on the losing end of a close unanimous decision to Igor Vovchanchyn in a rematch from their PRIDE 7 clash.

In July of 2001, Kerr made it successive losses when he was stopped from knee strikes by rising American contender, Heath Herring at PRIDE 15.

Kerr took a two and a half year break from the sport after the Herring loss before re- emerging at PRIDE 27 in February of 2004. Kerr came in looking a lot rounder than all his previous fights in his career. His return did not go to plan as he knocked himself unconscious while executing a double leg takedown on opponent, Yoshihisa Yamamoto in the first minute of round 1. Kerr vowed to return but the loss marked his last performance in the PRIDE organization.

Return to MMA

Kerr had another year and a half break from MMA following the Yamamoto incident and began his return to regular mixed martial arts competition at an IFL event on November 2, 2006. He faced TUF 2's Mike Whitehead and was stopped on punches in just under three minutes of round 1.

A couple of months later, Kerr travelled to England where he faced off against Mostapha Al Turk at Cage Rage 20. Kerr slipped going for a high kick and fell, allowing Al Turk to pounce. Al Turk secured mount and rained down punches until Kerr tapped to the punishment at just 43 seconds of round 1.

In November of 2007, Kerr snapped his five fight losing streak and secured his first victory since August of 2000 when he submitted Steve Gavin with a keylock at a WCO event.

Kerr kicked off 2008 with another keylock submission win, this time over Chuck Huus to improve his record to 15-6 (1 NC).

In April of 2008, Kerr filled in on short notice for Don Frye to face UFC 6 tournament champion, Oleg Taktarov as a master fight for inaugural (and only) YAMMA Pit Fighting event. Kerr entered the cage almost unrecognizable from his early career and was submitted by Taktarov with a kneebar in just 1:55 of round 1.

Kerr dropped his next two bouts to unknown opponents, Tracy Willis and Ralph Kelly on smaller promotions in the first round by guillotine choke and TKO respectively.

Kerr finished 2008 by losing via rear naked choke to Jeff Monson in a fight that showed exactly how much Kerr had diminished in his career.