Mark Kerr used to make a living knocking out UFC heavyweights – but now he has an everyday job serving customers who don’t know about his past.
The MMA pioneer, who won back-to-back UFC tournaments, worked as a car salesman for years and now owns a flooring company after walking away from combat sports in 2009.
Kerr fought during the UFC’s early days when fighters were required to fight two times in one night, not that it bothered the American as he was able to finish his opponents in double-quick time.
The now-54-year-old earned his ‘Smashing Machine’ nickname by scoring four first-round stoppage wins – with his longest fight lasting just 133 seconds - at UFC 14 and UFC 15 in 1997.
After his brief UFC stint, Kerr travelled to Japan to test himself against the best fighters in Pride and came unstuck after a few years, losing ten of his final 12 fights after starting his career with a 13-1 record.
The 15-11 fighter struggled with an addiction to painkillers and has openly talked about how that impacted his career since retiring from MMA.
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In 2015, Kerr spoke to Sports Illustrated about his new life as a salesman and how it feels to go from fighting in front of thousands to selling cars to unsuspecting customers.
"Sometimes I hate the job because, the story I have in my head, some of the customers that come in to talk to me have no clue what I used to do for a living,” he said.
“Have no clue that I fought in the UFC or won Abu Dhabi three times. So, they talk to me in a manner that, if they had the knowledge that I was this person before, probably half the things that came out of their mouth would not.
“They wouldn't be as disrespectful or demeaning. I sit there and almost chuckle. I've had bosses and I know if they tried to talk to me in a bar the way they did on the job, they wouldn't. They'd take one look and go back and sit down."
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According to Kerr’s LinkedIn page, he stopped working at his local Toyota dealership soon after, and in 2022 he became the co-owner of IMMP Flooring.
Whatever he’s doing today, MMA fans will always remember him as ‘The Smashing Machine’ who took the UFC by storm before it became a multi-billion-dollar organization.
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