The Smashing Machine

[kreese]

Just watched the documentary "The Smashing Machine" about Mark Kerr, a former collegiate wrestling champion and full-contact fighter. I think this film has been mentioned before on EF, but I just wanted to recommend it again as a very well made documentary about a very interesting man. What I liked about this film is that it shows a lot of the personal pressures facing someone who chooses the life of a professional fighter. Mark Kerr, despite the immediate impression he gives as a beast of a fighter, is subject to the same frailties of the human condition that we all are.

I give The Smashing Machine 4 and a half stars out of 5 as a documentary.

[bigphatwong]

I haven't seen the documentary, but here's my Mark Kerr story. When I was training at Beverly Hills Jiu Jitsu (a friend of mine was Marco Ruas' physical therapist, so he got me in free) I was in the changing room after class and overheard a bunch of guys talking about the next Mark Kerr fight, and I blurted out "I don't even know who Mark Kerr is." Then this big hulk of a dude in red speedos looks at me and smiles and says, "don't feel bad." I was like "nice to meet you!"

I also got to train with Marco Ruas and Pedro Rizzo, and shoot the shit with Bas Rutten in Dutch. It was some good times fo sho.

[Kurt Robbins]

I really feel for Mark.
He has just destroyed his body (mainly endocrine system) with steroids and opiates.

[chud]

I thought it was pain killers?

Regardless, The Smashing Machine is a great documentary. I saw it when it originally aired on HBO, many years ago, and it made a huge impression on me. It brought me back to watching MMA again (I had tuned out for a while after the spectacle of the early years of the UFC). Kerr will always be one of my fave fighters, even though he fell so far. Btw, that documentary shows not only how dangerous drugs are, but also how dangerous a bad woman can be to a man's life. I wish Kerr all the best now, as he tries to continue competing.

[kreese]

I liked Bas from his fight commentary and I like him even more after watching him train Mark Kerr. I too wonder if Mark was/is taking steroids, but they didn't mention it in the film. I hope the man is clean now. I hate that he married that woman - at least the way things were portrayed, she was totally dragging him down. We are all human, I guess.

[Kurt Robbins]

The pain killers that Mark Kerr were using were opiate based (most are) - they show him injecting a steroids / pain killer cocktail in the film.