Ahead of the release of The Smashing Machine, the biopic of his life starring The Rock, Mark Kerr will be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.
Kerr will be part of the class of 2025, and is set to be enshrined in the Hall’s Pioneer Wing.
Promotion officials announced the honour during Saturday’s UFC 316 broadcast.
“Mark Kerr was a high-level wrestler who also fought for PRIDE and was one of the early pioneers of the sport,” said UFC President and CEO Dana White in a press release issued in conjunction with the announcement.
Kerr was an NCAA Division I wrestling champ for Oklahoma City in 1992, and would make his MMA debut in 97. He would post a 12-0, 1NC record to start his run as a professional fighter, winning the UFC 14 tournament in the process and notching a victory over Japanese legend Enson Inoue under the PRIDE banner. Kerr also won the UFC 15 tournament, putting him among an elite group of fighters to win multiple single-night tournament’s during the promotion’s early years.
During his time in PRIDE, the promotion was criticized for changing their ruleset to eliminate some of Kerr’s preferred techniques, including headbutts and knees to grounded opponents, in an effort to make his fights go longer.
