The Smashing Machine’s Missing Final Round: Inside Mark Kerr’s Life After the Credits
Dwayne Johnson and Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine may have stumbled at the box office, but it hit hard with audiences—sparking a surge of questions about what really happened to Mark Kerr after the credits rolled.
So The Smashing Machine didn't light up the box office, but it clearly did its job: a lot of you left the theater wondering what actually happened to Mark Kerr once the credits rolled. Fair question. The movie stops right as life starts getting even messier, and there's a lot of real-world follow-through the film only nods at.
Where the movie leaves him
Benny Safdie's A24 drama tracks Kerr's rise, the chaos of his relationship with Dawn Staples, and the addiction that kept nipping at his heels. It ends with Dwayne Johnson's Kerr losing in Japan, haunted by Dawn's suicide attempt and everything he can't control. Then, a grace note: he cracks a smile, breathes, and the postscript jumps in to say he and Dawn got married 11 days after the 2000 PRIDE Grand Prix, and that he eventually retired in 2009.
What actually happened next
Short version: the post-Grand Prix stretch got rough, with flashes of the old dominance but not much stability. Here's the arc, clean and simple:
- 2000: After the PRIDE Grand Prix loss in Japan, Kerr marries Dawn 11 days later.
- Early 2000s: Keeps fighting, but momentum is gone. He takes hard losses to Igor Vovchanchyn, Heath Herring, and Yoshihisa Yamamoto, and steps away from PRIDE.
- Rebound moments: Wins over Steve Gavin in the World Cage Fighting Organization and Chuck Huus at CCCF put a little shine back on the record.
- Final chapter: Drops his last five fights, including bouts with Muhammed Lawal and Oleg Taktarov, and is basically forced to call it a career.
- Career tally: 15-11-0 in MMA.
- Personal life: He and Dawn have a son, Bryce. They split in 2005.
- New start: Kerr later meets fitness consultant Franci Alberding. They get married in 2023 and run a wellness company together called Absolute Wellness.
- Health: He's been dealing with peripheral neuropathy since 2016. In 2019 he launched a GoFundMe to cover treatments insurance wouldn't touch; as of now, it's only about 53% funded and still open.
- Recognition: July 2025, he's inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame, with Dwayne Johnson doing the honors.
- Business moves: September 2025, Innovative Arts Entertainment signs him for endorsements, licensing, appearances, merchandising, speaking gigs, and acting.
The personal reckoning
Kerr has been honest about how that first marriage unraveled. His own summary is blunt and, frankly, the clearest explanation you'll get:
"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."
Where he is now
Kerr lives in Arizona and has been out front promoting the film, giving Safdie and company their flowers. The UFC Hall of Fame induction this summer was a full-circle moment, and Johnson's tribute didn't shy away from the darker parts:
"Mark was one of the greatest fighters on the planet, and during that same time he overdosed twice as he battled his addictions outside the cage... Today, Mark serves as a pillar of hope to everyone out there..."
If you were curious whether The Smashing Machine left anything big on the cutting room floor, the answer is yes and no. It skips the drawn-out grind of a legend trying to hold on, but the movie's final beat is honest: Kerr found some peace, then had to earn the rest of it the hard way.
The Smashing Machine is in theaters now.