Director: John Hyams, 2002
Stars: Mark Kerr, Marcus Coleman, Royce Gracie, Igor Vovchanchyn
Out to buy: On DVD
Softly spoken, articulate and courteous to a fault, Mark Kerr has the demeanour of a hotel concierge or a provincial bank manager. But let him loose in an Ultimate Fighting arena, and this clean-cut goliath exhibits a chilling facility for grappling opponents to the floor and pulverising their faces in a whirr of elbows and knees.
As Hyams’s excellent HBO documentary opens, Kerr is the unbeaten top dog of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, a virtually rule-free combat sport that pits martial artists against boxers and former wrestlers. The encounters, which take place before thousands of blood-craving fans, are medieval in their brutality.
With a money-spinning tournament in