The Smashing Machine Soundtrack List: Every Song in Dwayne Johnson’s Mark Kerr MMA Biopic

Here is the thing about Benny Safdie's 2025 movie The Smashing Machine: it hits hard even when nobody is throwing a punch. Dwayne Johnson plays real-life MMA legend Mark Kerr, a guy who bulldozed opponents but had a rougher fight outside the cage with fame, addiction, love, and loss. The surprise? The movie’s emotional core isn’t just in the performances — it is in the music. Belgian jazz artist Nala Sinephro scores the film with a soft, searching vibe that sneaks up on you, while a run of needle-drops swings from classic rock to 90s radio staples. It is a smart, slightly unexpected mix that gives the movie a pulse.

Score and needle-drops, working in tandem

Sinephro’s compositions are the spine — moody, patient, and precise — and the film layers in songs from big names to break your heart or light the fuse. We are talking Bruce Springsteen, Rod Stewart, Faith Hill, Elvis, Squeeze, Sublime — the kind of songs that immediately tell you where a character is emotionally without a single line of dialog. The placements are deliberate too: think Sublime’s Santeria over training, Brian McKnight’s Back At One in a tender beat, and Springsteen’s Jungleland when things get operatic.

Every track in The Smashing Machine

• Dawn — Nala Sinephro (2:15 minutes)
• Grand Prix — Nala Sinephro (4:02 minutes)
• The Smashing Machine — Nala Sinephro (8:44 minutes)
• The High — Nala Sinephro (1:15 minutes)
• Mark — Nala Sinephro (1:44 minutes)
• KO — Nala Sinephro (4:41 minutes)
• Mark II — Nala Sinephro (1:30 minutes)
• Dawn II — Nala Sinephro (1:08 minutes)
• Vem — Nick Layne Remix — Jpg
• Tropical Dream — Daniel Barross
• YOU CAN NEVER COME TO THIS PLACE — Masayoshi Takanaka
• Santeria — Sublime
• Every Morning — Sugar Ray
• Sararà — Krause Mix — 12 Fingers
• Take Me In Your Arms — Lil Suzy
• When I Dream — Jack Clement
• Rhythm of My Heart — 2008 Remaster — Rod Stewart
• Don't Be Cruel — Billy Swan
• Just Another Day — Jon Secada
• Tempted — Squeeze
• Back At One — Brian McKnight
• Home Town — WITCH
• Beautiful People — Melanie
• My Way — Live at the Honolulu International Center — Elvis Presley
• 今夜月の見える丘に — B'z
• My Stove's on Fire — Robert Lester Folsom
• That's My Desire — Hadda Brooks
• Jungleland — Bruce Springsteen
• Corridor of Dreams — The Cleaners From Venus
• Make The World Go Away — Timi Yuro
• Limelight — The Alan Parsons Project

This is one of those soundtracks that makes everything feel messier and more human — the highs pop, the lows ache. It has that inside-baseball quality where the score is doing quiet, surgical work while the needle-drops swing for the fences. And yes, when you hear something like Jungleland in an MMA movie, it is a bold choice that actually makes sense in context.

Where to listen

If you want the score on its own, the full set of Nala Sinephro tracks is up on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music. That will give you the core feel of the film; the licensed songs listed above are the rest of the texture you hear in the movie.

The Smashing Machine is in theaters worldwide right now. If you walked out with a favorite track — score or needle-drop — tell me which one grabbed you.