Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s latest foray into film was the biopic “The Smashing Machine,” based on the life of UFC veteran Mark Kerr. Johnson seemed especially passionate about the project, and even wore prosthetics to better depict Kerr in the film. Despite this and the warm reception the movie had at the Venice Film Festival, it has become one of his worst performing movies.

Interestingly, according to Dave Meltzer during an interview on “Cinema Sidetrack,” there’s another UFC legend that Johnson should’ve played instead. “The actual Mark Coleman story, I thought would be way more interesting than Mark Kerr,” he opined. “I mean, he only had a handful of fights in UFC. But Mark Coleman had a really interesting… really interesting life.” Meltzer recounted how Mark Coleman balanced being a single father with his UFC career, and even how he recently saved his parents lives, rescuing them from a burning house.

“And, you know, part of the Ohio State thing where he was molested by the doctor and being this unbeatable force in MMA, you know,” Meltzer added before again repeating that a movie about Coleman would’ve been far more interesting than the one made about Kerr. “Because there’s so much to Mark Coleman, you know, more than – more than Mark Kerr as far as an interesting topic, an interesting subject.” Meltzer said he was “dumbfounded” when he learned about plans for “The Smashing Machine.”

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “Cinema Sidetrack” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.