Award-winning actors Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson had a public feud that started in 2016 and eventually ended in 2023.
It’s also quite clear that the pair’s relationship after they ended their feud remains healthy, as Diesel, in a lengthy Instagram post on Tuesday, praised Johnson for his role in The Smashing Machine movie.
Released in October 2025, the biographical sports drama film sees Johnson, 53, portraying mixed martial artist and UFC legend Mark Kerr, who is friends with Diesel, 58.
“One of the greatest gifts in life isn’t something you can buy, it’s the relationships forged along the way,” Diesel wrote. “I wanted to take a moment to talk about ‘The Smashing Machine.’ What most people don’t realize is that Mark Kerr was one of the first friends I made when I moved from New York to California. We hit it off immediately, and the reason is simple: he is genuinely one of the kindest, most warm-hearted people you will ever meet.”
The Fast & Furious star also revealed that Kerr, 56, actually trained him for the first XXX movie, adding that the UFC legend, in a “beautiful way,” was “there at the beginning of my action career. That’s the kind of friend he’s been from day one.”
Diesel then went ahead to shower praises on Johnson, with whom he has co-starred in multiple Fast & Furious movies. “And let me celebrate Dwayne,” he wrote.
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“People don’t understand what it takes to uphold a global perception every single day. I remember asking our global family who they’d love to see me work with, and a woman named Jan left a comment saying her dream was for me to collaborate with Dwayne,” Diesel added.
“What followed became one of the most dynamic pairings in cinema, two strong personalities who pushed each other and created something unforgettable. When he stepped into Hobbs, he did it with full commitment and left an indelible mark on Universal’s character hall of fame.”
Diesel additionally touched on Kerr’s UFC Hall of Fame induction. “Watching Mark Kerr get inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame because his story was finally told was such a proud moment,” he said.
“This is a man who would often tell me about the kids he was teaching to wrestle, to fight, to take ownership of their lives usually for no money at all.”
He concluded: “The fact that Mark Coleman was included in the film was such a treat, and Bas Rutten’s performance was stellar. Mark Kerr is so deserving of this moment… and Dwayne really did it… He brought us back in time and shined doing it. Proud of you both.”
Diesel and Johnson’s public feud stemmed from the pair having creative differences over the Fast & Furious franchise. The feud started after Johnson took to Instagram in 2016 to condemn some of the stars who featured in the movie alongside him, though he did not mention their names. Johnson later deleted that post.
In June 2023, Johnson ultimately announced that they had resolved their differences.
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