By the time that Mark Kerr arrived in pride in 1998, he was already one of the most feared contenders in the heavyweight division thanks to his win reak.
Only in his third fight in Japanese promotion did the wrestling specialist from the first round after Kerr earn his nickname by steaming his early opponents.
His career will now hit the big screen with Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson who plays the role of 'The Smashing Machine' in an upcoming film by Benny Safdie under the same name.
For everything that the former UFC heavyweight tournament has reached, he also suffered his honest part of the setbacks during his career with his first loss against an unexpected opponent.
Mark Kerr was stopped by professional wrestler Kazuyuki Fajita in the fourth pro -fight of the Japanese competitor
In his first few years, Mark Kerr was able to continue the incredible momentum from his UFC days by achieving four consecutive victories and finishes.
His first setback came against Igor Vovcanschyn, which is played by Oleksandr Usyk in the coming film about Kerr's career.
The fight was originally declared a TKO victory for Vovushanchyn in Pride 7 in 1999, but the result was later turned into a NO match because of the Ukrainian countries illegal knees to the head of a knocked down opponent.
Kerr bounced back with the first decision gain of his career at Enson Inoue to continue to the next phase of the Pride Grand Prix in 2000 that took place on this day, May 1.
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The next opponent of Kerr, Kazuyuki Fujita, competed 32 times as a Pro Fighter with many of the legends of his era before retired in 2018.
Both before and after his MMA career, Fujita spent time with works and a professional wrestler who was signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestlinging for four years before making his Pro MMA debut.
Trained by people like Antonio Inoki and Satoru Sayama, the Japanese star would become a multiple time IWGP heavyweight champion who has had to deal with Brock Lesnar.
The unbeaten Fujita would stand against Kerr in only his fourth MMA fight where it was one-way traffic for the American in the early stages.
After they had resisted some significant damage, the balance of the Home Fighter began to swing when the dominant Kerr started to slow down.
Fujita shocked his opponent where he continued to rule through unanswered soil and hits his opponent's back until the referee stopped the fight with the victory that immediately made him a favorite in Japan and earned him the nickname of 'Ironhead'.
He would leave the tournament later that evening after his corner had thrown into the towel at the start of his semi -final fight with Mark Coleman to prevent him from taking on even more damage.
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Mark Kerr's first defeat would lead to a sudden decrease in the form that his career derailed
After losing Kazuyuki Fujita, Mark Kerr would go back a few months later with an entry victory over Igor Borisov on Pride 10 – Return of the Warriors.
That would be his last victory in pride with the American who loses his next five fights with three of those who take place in Japanese promotion.
A decision loss for Igor Vovcanschyn was not exactly a reason for concern, but then Kerr would be eliminated in four consecutive outings.
Although he has recorded back-to-back victories to end this losing series, his career would end after another five consecutive defeats from 2008 to 2009.