Mark Kerr

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the mixed martial artist and wrestler. For the Scottish football (soccer) player, see Mark Kerr (footballer).

Mark Kerr

Statistics
Nickname	The Titan
Height	6 ft 3 in (191 cm)
Weight	236 lb (107 kg)
Born	December 21, 1968
Town of birth	Toledo, Ohio
Fighting style	Freestyle Wrestling
Mixed martial arts record
Wins	13
By knockout	5
By submission	2
Losses	6
Draws	0

Mark Kerr (born December 21, 1968 in Toledo, Ohio), also known as "The Titan," "The Specimen," and "The Smashing Machine," is an American mixed martial artist and champion collegiate wrestler.

1 Biography
2 Professional career
3 MMA titles
4 MMA record
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Biography

Kerr was a high school state champion in Ohio, wrestling for Toledo Waite. 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. While training as an amateur wrestler, Kerr became interested in mixed martial arts as a way to earn money. He is the only openly gay mixed martial arts fighter.

[edit] Professional career

Kerr’s first professional MMA fight was at the World Vale Tudo Championship III, where he won three fights, including one by TKO by strikes, and one opponent literally crawling out of the ring to avoid Kerr's brutal ground-and-pound to win the title. Kerr had four wins in the UFC before fighting in Pride Fighting Championships in 1998. Kerr had a ground-and-pound fighting style where he would use takedowns to get his opponent onto the mat and then use strikes and submissions to try and finish the fight. Kerr’s final MMA win was at Pride 10 where he defeated Igor Borisov by submission. Four months later, at Pride 12, he lost to Igor Vovchanchyn by decision, in the rematch of a Pride 7 fight where Kerr had been illegally knocked out by knees to the head from Vovchanchyn. Kerr would then lose to Heath Herring at Pride 15 via TKO. This trend continued three years later in 2004 at his next match at Pride 27, where he knocked himself out while trying to take down his opponent, Yoshihisa Yamamoto.

In 2003, HBO aired a documentary titled "The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Mark Kerr." The program chronicles Kerr’s addiction to painkillers and the no-holds barred aspect of mixed martial arts. Ken Shamrock, Bas Rutten and Mark Coleman also appear in the film. In his return to mixed martial arts in 2006, Kerr, who has become a father since he last entered the ring, wants to abolish his image as "The Smashing Machine." After his embarrassing 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.

On February 11, 2007, Kerr returned to the ring to fight Mustafa Al Turk at Cage Rage. Kerr lost in the first round.

Kerr was also active in the ADCC (Abu Dhabi Combat Club) competitions, a submission wrestling organisation where strikes are not allowed. He wrestled there with other well known MMA fighters such as Mario Sperry, Josh Barnett, and Ricardo Arona. Kerr is a wrestler by background, but he's also skilled with submissions and submission defense. Kerr is also an avid powerlifter, he can Bench press 425 lb (192.5 kg) and Squat 550 lb (250 kg).

[edit] MMA titles

Previous winner
Randy Couture

UFC 14 Heavyweight tournament winner

March 13, 1997

Next winner
Mark Kerr

Previous winner
Mark Kerr

UFC 15 Heavyweight tournament winner

October 17, 1997

Next winner
Kazushi Sakuraba

[edit] MMA record

Result	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round, Time	Notes
Loss	Mustapha al Turk	Submission (strikes)	Cage Rage 20 - Born II Fight	2/10/2007	1 0:43
Loss	Mike Whitehead	TKO (Strikes)	IFL-Championship Semis	11/2/2006	1 2:40
Loss	Yoshihisa Yamamoto	TKO (Strikes)	PRIDE 27-Inferno	2/1/2004	1 0:40
Loss	Heath Herring	TKO (Knees)	PRIDE 15-Raging Rumble	7/29/2001	2 4:56
Loss	Igor Vovchanchyn	Decision	PRIDE 12-Cold Fury	12/9/2000	3 5:00
Win	Igor Borisov	Submission (Neck Crank)	PRIDE 10-Return of the Warriors	8/27/2000	1 2:06
Loss	Kazuyuki Fujita	Decision	PRIDE Grand Prix 2000 Finals	5/1/2000	1 15:00
Win	Enson Inoue	Decision	PRIDE Grand Prix 2000 Opening Round	1/30/2000	1 15:00
NC	Igor Vovchanchyn	No Contest	PRIDE 7-PRIDE 7	9/12/1999	N/A
Win	Nobuhiko Takada	Submission (Kimura)	PRIDE 6-PRIDE 6	7/4/1999	1 3:04
Win	Hugo Duarte	TKO	PRIDE 4-PRIDE 4	10/11/1998	3 2:32
Win	Pedro Otavio	Submission (Armlock)	PRIDE 3-PRIDE 3	6/24/1998	1 2:13
Win	Branco Cikatic	Disqualification (Grabbing the Ropes)	PRIDE 2-PRIDE 2	3/15/1998	1 2:14
Win	Dwayne Cason	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	UFC 15-Collision Course	10/17/1997	1 0:53
Win	Greg Stott	KO (Knee to the Head)	UFC 15-Collision Course	10/17/1997	1 0:17
Win	Dan Bobish	Submission (Chin to the Eye)	UFC 14-Showdown	7/27/1997	1 1:38
Win	Moti Horenstein	TKO	UFC 14-Showdown	7/27/1997	1 2:22
Win	Fabio Gurgel	Decision (Unanimous)	WVC 3-World Vale Tudo Championship 3	1/19/1997	1 30:00
Win	Mestre Hulk	DQ (Crawling out of the Ring)	WVC 3-World Vale Tudo Championship 3	1/19/1997	1 2:21
Win	Paul Varelans	TKO (Strikes)	WVC 3-World Vale Tudo Championship 3	1/19/1997	1 2:06