Mark Kerr (fighter)

Mark Kerr was born in Toledo, Ohio to Tom and Mary Kerr.[2][3] His father was Irish, and his mother was Puerto Rican.[4] From early childhood, he would dream of being in the World Wrestling Federation and would hold mock fights with his younger siblings in the back yard.

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, a senior at the time.[5] 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.[6]

At Syracuse University, Kerr was the Division I champion at 190 pounds and an All-American in 1992,[6][7] defeating Randy Couture 12-4 in the final.[8] He was also a three-time EIWA champion at 190 lbs (1989, 1991, 1992) and a runner-up in 1988, and won the Fletcher Award for scoring the most team points in 1991 and 1992.[8][9][10][11][12] In 1992, Kerr came second at the World Cup, ahead of Kurt Angle.[13] Kerr won the USA World Team Trials in 1993 and 1994, finishing 7th at the 1993 World Championships. In 1994, he won gold at the World Cup in Edmonton along with the USA Senior Freestyle Championship but did not medal at the World Championships.[8][14] Kerr won silver in freestyle at the 1995 Pan American Games.[15] After missing out on the 1996 Olympics, Kerr decided to focus on MMA.[8]

Kerr made his debut in MMA at WVC 3 against UFC veteran Paul Varelans. The bout lasted two minutes, with Kerr slamming Varelans with a takedown, mounting him and landing punches and knee strikes for the stoppage.[19] The same happened to his next opponent, Mestre Hulk, a capoeira police teacher who had become known for besting Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter Amaury Bitteti. After losing two teeth to Kerr's ground and pound, Hulk crawled out of the ring, getting disqualified.[19] Kerr then reached the finals, where he was pitted against jiu-jitsu fighter Fabio Gurgel. Again, the fight would bring echoes, this time those of the bout between Erikson and Gurgel's teammate Murilo Bustamante, which happened the same year.[19]

Kerr went to the fight with a broken hand from the Hulk fight, but he had 50 pounds over Gurgel. He took Gurgel down, passed his guard with ease and bloodied him with multiple kinds of strikes. The situation prolonged itself by 19 minutes, with the Brazilian trying armlocks and triangle chokes from the bottom, but Kerr avoided them and kept landing punishment. The fight had no time limit, but at the 30 minute mark, seeing that Gurgel was unable to defend anymore, the judges stopped the fight and gave Kerr the win.[19]

Following his success in Brazil, Mark Kerr was invited to fight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Kerr had previously been told of the event by Coleman, who was himself a UFC tournament winner and champion by this point. Kerr's first bout in the UFC came at UFC 14 where he fought in the heavyweight tournament. His first fight was against krav maga representative Moti Horenstein, and Kerr defeated his opponent by technical knockout at 2:22 of the first round. With this win Kerr advanced to the finals of the tournament where he beat Dan Bobish with a submission (chin to the eye) at 1:38 of the first round; Kerr's win over Bobish earned him the UFC 14 Heavyweight tournament title.

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.[21] 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.

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.[22] 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.

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.[21] 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.[21] 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.

In 2004, Kerr returned to PRIDE, fighting Yoshisha Yamamoto at Pride 27. Just 40 seconds into the fight, Kerr attempted a double leg takedown, but accidentally spiked his head into the canvas, stunning him with Yamamoto quickly following up with punches to end the fight. With his third straight loss under the PRIDE FC banner, Kerr quit PRIDE.

Speaking of Kerr's time fighting in Japan, Mark Coleman said, "Every time a fight came around he was pretty scared. He was intimidated by the whole situation and that is probably what led to him using pain killers."[23]

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.

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[24] 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.

Kerr is an avid powerlifter, reportedly able to bench press 425 lb (192.5 kg) and squat 550 lb (250 kg).

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 August 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.[25]

As of 2010, Kerr considered himself "99.9 percent retired" and was pursuing a degree with an eye on pharmaceutical sales.[26] As of 2015 he was working at a Toyota dealership.[27]

• National Collegiate Athletic Association
  • NCAA Division I Champion (1992 at 190 lbs)[7] out of Syracuse University
• Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association
  • Champion (1989, 1991, 1992 at 190 lbs)[10][11][12]
  • Runner-up (1988 at 190lbs)[9]

• United World Wrestling (FILA)
  • 1992 World Cup - Silver Medalist at 100 kg[13]
  • 1994 World Cup - Gold Medalist at 100 kg[14]
  • 1995 Pan American Games - Silver Medalist at 100 kg[15]
• USA Wrestling
  • 1993 World Team Trials - Winner at 100 kg[8]
  • 1994 World Team Trials - Winner at 100 kg[8]
  • 1994 Senior Freestyle Championship - Winner at 100 kg[8]

• Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)
  • UFC 14 Heavyweight Tournament Champion
  • UFC 15 Heavyweight Tournament Champion
• World Vale Tudo Championship
  • WVC 3 Heavyweight Tournament Champion

• ADCC World Championships
  • Champion (1999 at +99 kg)[28]
  • Champion (2000 at +99 kg)[29]
  • Champion (2000 at Absolute)[29]
  • Champion (2001 in Superfight, defeated Mario Sperry)[30]
  • ADCC Hall of Fame (2022, inaugural class)[32][33]