In its over 30-year existence, the UFC has faced its fair share of disputes with fighters. The promotion has already settled one antitrust lawsuit for $375 million, with another class-action lawsuit still pending. However, it also clashed with fighters in other conflicts, some of which occurred even before Dana White took over. Unfortunately, one of those conflicts involved UFC legend Mark Kerr, the man on whom the upcoming Hollywood movie Smashing Machine is based.
The UFC Hall of Famer has pioneered mixed martial arts, competing since the early days of both UFC and Pride. Alongside Mark Coleman and Randy Couture, Kerr’s name helped cement the promotion as a respectable sports organization. That’s why the UFC inducted him into the Hall of Fame this year under the Pioneer Wing. However, while fans celebrate his legendary career today, the legend once experienced turbulence with the promotion. On Joe Rogan’s podcast, The Smashing Machine revealed that the UFC actually sued him and prevented him from facing Royce Gracie in Japan.
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Mark Kerr reveals how the UFC’s move led to the cancellation of a super fight
On The Joe Rogan Experience episode #2384, Kerr said, “I go over there for Pride 2. It was supposed to be me and Royce Gracie. There’s still the fight posters that I signed of him and I facing off with each other. Signed the contract to fight for way more money than was being paid for in the UFC. And when I get back to the States, I get served with papers to appear in the court in New York City, the UFC’s suing me.”
Many might ask why the UFC sued Mark Kerr, who had just boosted the promotion’s popularity by winning the UFC 15 Heavyweight Tournament. According to a 2009 article by Indiepulse, The Smashing Machine recognized that Pride Fighting Championship in Japan held much greater prestige than the UFC at the time. With one tournament fight remaining on his UFC contract, he wanted to compete in Japan instead.
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That’s why the promotion sued Kerr. However, the MMA legend still made his Pride 2 debut. However, he couldn’t secure a superfight against Royce Gracie and ended up taking a very different matchup. Even today, Kerr admits he regrets never facing the Brazilian.
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The UFC legend regrets not fighting Royce Gracie in PRIDE
MMA became famous because fighters consistently sought to test themselves against one another. In the early days, Mark Kerr vs. Royce Gracie stood out as one of the biggest superfights fans ever witnessed. It would have been a classic wrestling vs. Jiu-Jitsu matchup, but Gracie’s injury before the event forced them to scrap the plans, and Kerr fought Croatian heavyweight Branko Cikatić at Pride 2 instead.
Continuing on the JRE podcast, Kerr explained, “It took four months, five months to sort the differences out between what the UFC needed and if they were going to let me go, and all the other stuff. In that time frame, Royce got hurt. So, Royce had to pull out, and they had to put Branko Cikatić in there. So, I ended up fighting Branko in Pride 2. So, if everything would have went as everything, I would have fought Royce Gracie in the Tokyo Dome. Him and I, main event. Me still at my peak, Royce still at his prime.”
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If the Kerr vs. Gracie fight had happened, it could have changed the entire course of MMA history. Had Mark Kerr defeated the BJJ legend, fans might have hailed him as one of the sport’s greatest heavyweights. Since the fight never happened, it remains one of the biggest “what ifs” in MMA history.
With that said, what do you think about the Smashing Machine star, Mark Kerr’s shocking revelation about the early days of the UFC? Let us know in the comments section below.