The documentary which I selected for this analysis is The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr. The documentary revolves around the famous mixed martial artist and wrestler Mark Kerr and his problems with drug use. The greater issue in the film is the fate of mixed martial arts as not just a sport but a business enterprise. The reason why Kerr’s career took the route it did was because mixed martial arts fights were banned in the USA because they were too bloody and dangerous. This forced Kerr to go abroad to Japan where he dominated the international mixed martial arts scene for a long time before his personal issues, such as his problems with his girlfriend Dawn, and his narcotics addiction.
The mixed martial arts scene at Kerr’s time was extremely resilient. It had its own code which allowed the use of narcotics like painkillers and allowed people to develop and use techniques which any other fighting sport, like boxing or wrestling, would ban. The most devastating of these techniques is the ground and pound technique developed by Kerr’s mentor Mark Coleman which led to Kerr’s victories on many occasions. The entire ethical system of mixed martial arts is completely different from other sports because it is a mix of different styles developed specifically to overcome the limitations of any one of them. This meant that regulation was almost impossible – the only thing that drove these fights was the will to win a match whatever the cost. This idea is what attracts so many people like Kerr to the sport in the first place and it acts as a vicious cycle. First it attracts people with a certain drive or personality and then it drills them into that personality so that they cannot leave the sport halfway. This is almost like high-stakes business dealings where it is always an all-or-nothing game – once entered, a contestant cannot leave unless they win it all or they are knocked out. The result of this brutal attraction is that, even if there is no profit, the sport will continue (the mixed martial arts matches continued underground in the USA even after it was banned and limited television coverage meant that it was impossible to turn a profit from the sport) and will thrive elsewhere if it is pushed out of one location.
Work Cited
The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr, dir. John
Hyams. Perf. Mark Kerr, Mark Coleman and Dawn Staples, 2002. Film.
