As an MMA and submission grappling pioneer, Mark Kerr will take his rightful place amongst other inductees in the ADCC Hall of Fame.
A renowned collegiate wrestler, Kerr stepped into both worlds of Mixed Martial Arts and submission grappling in the late ’90s. He participated in the first-ever ADCC tournament back in 1999 and won his first gold in 99+ kg division. A year later he not only added another championship title in the same weight category but ran through the Openweight division also. During this two years tenure, he defeated such notable names as Sean Alvarez (twice), Josh Barnett (twice), Ricardo Almeida, and Ricco Rodriguez. In 2001 he returned to ADCC competition circuit and defeated Mario Sperry in a Superfight. In his last submission grappling match he lost to Ricardo Arona in a Superfight at ADCC 2003 Championships. Kerr’s overall ADCC record is 12 – 1.
‘Smashing Machine’ was MMA mainstay almost from the beginnings of the sport. He stacked up 15 – 11 – 1 professional Mixed Martial Arts record with fights going back all the way to January of 1997. Kerr made his MMA debut at World Vale Tudo Championship 3 tournament, which he won by defeating Paul Varelans and Fabio Gurgel in the process. Later that year he fought for UFC, where he became two times Heavyweight Tournament winner. A bigger salary offer from PRIDE FC persuaded Kerr to sign with the Japanese promotion. His PRIDE record was 6 – 2 – 1 NC and the only notable thing about Kerr’s tenure was his wins over Nobuhiko Takada and Enson Inoue in the first round of PRIDE Grand Prix 2000. After his stint in Japan ‘Smashing Machine’ fought for various smaller U.S. promotions with his last fight being a loss to King Mo Lawal at M-1 Global Breakthrough event in 2009.
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