The Smashing Machine tells the inspirational true story of Mark Kerr, one of the pioneering figures in Mixed Martial Arts throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. The film chronicles his early rise to success in the sport despite the turbulence of his personal life, including a self-destructive relationship with painkillers and substance abuse.

The Smashing Machine has received generally positive reviews from critics, with lots of praise rolling in for Benny Safdie’s layered direction and Dwayne Johnson’s vulnerable lead performance. But the film only offers a brief snapsH๏τ into Mark Kerr’s life, ending abruptly after his unexpected defeat at the PRIDE finals in 2000.

Mark Kerr’s Fighting Career After PRIDE & Retirement

After losing by decision to Kazuyuki Fujita in the finals of the PRIDE tournament in 2000, Kerr’s professional career fell into an unstoppable downward spiral. Kerr was treated for a split chin immediately after the fight, but didn’t let this stop him from competing. Just four months later, he returned to fight Igor Vovchanchyn, who previously defeated him at PRIDE 7.

This match with Vovchanchyn was the beginning of a tough streak for Kerr, who was knocked out by Heath Herring just four months later at PRIDE 15. Kerr decided to temporarily step back from fighting after these two losses, but ultimately returned to the game in 2004 for a match with Yoshihisa Yamamoto. He lost this match in just 40 seconds and officially retired from PRIDE.

Kerr was a UFC legend, but there’s no denying that his career was in a very tough spot at this point. It wasn’t until November 2007, when he fought in the World Cage Fighting Organization, that a victory against Steve Gavin made it seem like he might be getting back on his feet. But his next victory against Chuck Huus at the CCCF would be his last.

Kerr lost the final five matches of his career, going down to fighters such as Oleg Taktarov, Tracy Willis, and Muhammed Lawal without much of a fight. He was forced to retire from fighting permanently following these losses, which proved that he was no longer fit to fight among the top names in the sport.

Although he never managed to climb to the top of the MMA ladder, Kerr was recognized earlier this year in the UFC Hall of Fame for his contributions to the sport and pioneering efforts to make fighting accessible to a global audience. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame by Johnson himself, who plays Kerr in The Smashing Machine.

Mark & Dawn’s Marriage & Separation

The relationship between Kerr and his then-girlfriend Dawn Staples is the driving force of The Smashing Machine, with their toxic dynamic mirroring the personal and professional obstacles that characterized that period of Kerr’s life. But despite their differences, Mark and Dawn genuinely cared for each other, and their relationship continued long after the events of the film.

After splitting up for several months following Kerr’s near-fatal overdose in 1999, the pair got back together following his defeat at PRIDE and ultimately married in 2000. Although they reportedly split up for good in 2015, they share one son and are seemingly on good terms.

Speaking about his relationship with Staples to TIME, Kerr confessed, “What I was doing at the time was incredibly selfish. Dawn just wanted my love. She wanted to feel important […] A lot of that volatility was because of my actions.” Although Kerr fails to recognize his own complicity in their toxic relationship throughout The Smashing Machine, that’s clearly no longer the case.

Kerr’s Health Struggles & Current Career

Throughout The Smashing Machine, Kerr battles an ongoing dependency on painkillers to deal with the physical and emotional pain of his fighting career. Opioid abuse is dangerously common in the world of professional fighting, and Kerr has frequently spoken about his struggles with addiction throughout these formative years of his career.

The natural, nuanced exploration of this addiction is one of the many reasons why The Smashing Machine is getting such strong reviews, and the film does an excellent job of showing how Kerr ultimately overcame his dependency by working on himself and prioritizing his own happiness and safety over his fighting results. He confirmed this in his TIME interview:

I’ve been sober for seven years now, and that took me a minute, because that’s a reckoning. I recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of body and mind.

Unfortunately, addiction isn’t the only health problem that Kerr has faced in recent years. The fighter revealed in 2019 that he was diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy three years prior. The term refers to a kind of permanent nerve damage that’s often brought about by excessive and repeated physical trauma.

While this essentially rules out any return to the world of fighting in the near future, Kerr has remained active in the development of Safdie’s The Smashing Machine and has been heavily involved in the film’s press tour. He attended the premieres in Venice and Toronto, and clearly wanted to ensure that his story was told in a fair, respectful, and authentic way.

His open support of The Smashing Machine suggests he feels it has done exactly that. Considering it depicts such a turbulent time in his life, this could’ve been something he wished to shy away from. Instead, he’s faced it head-on, and since the events of the movie, he’s gone on to live a fulfilling life.