Mark Kerr

{{Infobox martial artist

{{MedalCountry|the {{USA}}}}

{{MedalSport|Men's freestyle wrestling}}

{{MedalCompetition|World Cup}}

}}Mark Kerr (born December 21, 1968) is an American former wrestler and mixed martial artist.

During his MMA career, he was a two-time UFC Heavyweight Tournament Champion, World Vale Tudo Championship tournament winner, and a PRIDE FC competitor.

In collegiate wrestling, Kerr was a NCAA Division I champion.

In freestyle wrestling, he won gold and silver medals at the World Cup and silver at the Pan American Games.

In submission wrestling, Kerr is a four-time ADCC World Champion, winning his weightclass twice along with the absolute division and the Superfight Championship.

In 1983, Kerr began his wrestling career in Bettendorf, Iowa 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.

After his freshman year at Bettendorf, Kerr and his family moved to Toledo, Ohio where he became a high school state champion for Toledo Waite.

{{MedalGold|1989 Bethlehem|190 lb} }}

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.

{{MedalSilver|1992 Moscow|100 kg }}

{{MedalCompetition|Pan American Games}}

{{MedalSport | Collegiate wrestling}}{{MedalCountry|}} the Syracuse Orange {{MedalCompetition|NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships}} {{MedalGold|1992 Oklahoma City|190 lb }}

{{MedalCompetition|EIWA Championships}}

At Syracuse University, Kerr was the Division I champion at 190 pounds and an All-American in 1992, defeating Randy Couture 12-4 in the final.

In 1992, Kerr came second at the World Cup, ahead of Kurt Angle.

Kerr won the USA World Team Trials in 1993 and 1994, finishing 7th at the 1993 World Championships.

{{MedalGold|1994 Edmonton|100 kg }}

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.

{{MedalSilver|1995 Mar del Plata|100 kg }}

{{MedalSport|Men's submission wrestling}}

{{MedalCompetition|ADCC World Championships}}

Kerr won silver in freestyle at the 1995 Pan American Games.

After missing out on the 1996 Olympics, Kerr decided to focus on MMA.

While training as an amateur wrestler, Kerr became interested in mixed martial arts as a way to earn money.

He, his long-time friend and training partner Mark Coleman and Tom Erikson were initially scouted by Richard Hamilton, who had managed Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter Don Frye until a falling out and was now offering a place in UFC 10 against him.

However, nothing came from it, and Coleman ended up hunting down the chance.

Eventually, Kerr and Hamilton arranged for the former to train with Coleman and fight at the Brazilian event World Vale Tudo Championship 3 in January 1997.

{{MedalGold|1999 Abu Dhabi|+99 kg }}

{{MedalGold|2000 Abu Dhabi|+99 kg }}

{{MedalGold|2000 Abu Dhabi|Absolute }}

{{MedalGold|2001 Abu Dhabi|Superfight }}

In 2002, Kerr was the subject of an HBO documentary titled The Smashing Machine, which detailed his MMA career fighting in Vale Tudo, the UFC and PRIDE.

The Smashing Machine also focused on Kerr's struggle with substance abuse, his relationships with his then-girlfriend, various training partners, and friendship with Mark Coleman.

Mark Kerr was born in Toledo, Ohio to Tom and Mary Kerr.

His father was Irish, and his mother was Puerto Rican.

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.