M. Kerr was a UFC champion, but he also made a mark in PRIDE. Photo: Reproduction
At his peak in MMA, between the late 90s and early 2000s, North American Mark Kerr was one of the fighters who most raised suspicions about the use of illegal substances, due to his gigantic physical shape. However, finally, after so many years, Kerr admitted that he had used anabolic steroids both when he was champion of the UFC heavyweight tournaments and during the now extinct Japanese PRIDE event.
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“At that time, no one really knew what the UFC was. And part of what I did, in the face of uncertainty, was, 'I'm going to get as big and strong as possible.' (…) And then I had my first experience with anabolic steroids. In my first fight in Brazil (my MMA debut, at the World Vale Tudo Championship), I was on a small dose of anabolic steroids. In my first fights in the UFC, I was around 125kg and had 5% body fat, I could barely fit in a small car”, revealed Kerr, in an interview for a documentary about his career.
The documentary, titled “Mark Kerr”, was produced by director Bobby Razak and aired on YouTube. In his statements, Kerr also spoke about the abuse of other substances, such as painkillers and stimulants – in this case, Vicodin and cocaine. Furthermore, the former fighter said that his liver was eight times larger than it should be due to the abuse of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs).
But Kerr's revelations were not just limited to the so-called “UFC's Dark Ages” (before the acquisition of the event by Zuffa, the company that runs the organization to this day). The North American also spoke about the use of performance-enhancing substances at the now-defunct Japanese PRIDE event, which during its existence faced numerous allegations of collusion with doping, a topic that returned to the agenda last year after reports from another former athlete at the event, Japanese Enson Inoue.
“At Pride, they didn’t really care what you took. They wanted you to look strong, to fight well, but they didn't care if you ended up taking X, Y or Z to get into the ring. They never questioned my blood pressure, nor whether I was too heavy or not. They just wanted the final product and that was all,” he declared, reinforcing the accusations made by Inoue.
Now 46 years old, Mark Kerr ended his professional MMA career with a record of 15 wins, eleven losses and one unsuccessful fight. Kerr had a successful career in wrestling university and won the NCAA title in 1992, beating none other than Randy Couture in the decision. “Máquina de Esmagar”, as he was known, was champion of the UFC 14 and 15 heavyweight tournaments.
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