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Report: Oleksandr Usyk to Star in The Rock's 'The Smashing Machine' After Fury Fight

Adam WellsMay 24, 2024

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA - MAY 19: Oleksandr Usyk of Ukraine beats Tyson Fury (not seen) of United Kingdom to become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on May 19, 2024. (Photo by Mohammed Saad/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Mohammed Saad/Anadolu via Getty Images

Oleksandr Usyk is having a great week between beating Tyson Fury to become the undisputed heavyweight champion and now getting cast in a high-profile movie starring The Rock.

Per Justin Kroll of DEADLINE.com, Usyk has been cast as mixed martial arts and kickboxing legend Igor Vovchanchyn in The Smashing Machine that is currently being filmed.

The film stars The Rock as MMA legend Mark Kerr, who won the UFC heavyweight tournament twice in 1997.

A24 shared the first image of the Great One as Kerr, whose nickname was The Smashing Machine, on Tuesday:

A24 @A24

First look at Benny Safdie's THE SMASHING MACHINE starring <a href="https://twitter.com/TheRock?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheRock</a> and Emily Blunt. <a href="https://t.co/GVC2XIHwGV">pic.twitter.com/GVC2XIHwGV</a>

Vovchanchyn and Kerr squared off twice in Pride Fighting Championships. The first bout in September 1999 was originally ruled a TKO loss for Kerr before later being changed to a no-contest due to illegal downward knee strikes.

The initial ruling of a loss was the first of Kerr's career. His actual first loss came via unanimous decision to Kazuyuki Fujita in the openweight quarterfinals at Pride Grand Prix in May 2000.

After defeating Igor Borisov six months later, Kerr got a rematch with Vovchanchyn in December. Vovchanchyn won the bout via unanimous decision.

During Kerr's fighting career, he also battled an addiction to painkillers. ESPN's Michael Woods noted in a 2008 story that Kerr began using painkillers after having his knee rebuilt in 1994 and later tearing the meniscus in the same knee.

"Injuries are doubly difficult for Kerr to handle," Woods wrote, "since he turned to painkillers to combat the pain and became reliant on them to the point where he was injecting black-market opiates."

Kerr's life and career were the subject a 2002 HBO documentary also titled The Smashing Machine. The feature version is written and directed by Benny Safdie, who previously made Uncut Gems and Good Time with his brother, Josh.

Usyk stunned Fury on May 18 to hand the Gypsy King the first loss of his professional career. He is the first undisputed heavyweight champion of the four-belt era (WBA-WBC-IBF-WBO) that dates back to 2007.

A24 has not yet announced a release date for The Smashing Machine.