TapouT’s blister rise to the top is becoming tarnished within the MMA fight community.  TapouT’s popularity has led to a mainstream acceptance of their brand, and their core-culture of fighters is diminisning as they become increasingly well known as a ‘poser’ brand within the sport.  Dedicated fighters are turned off by the mainstream acceptance and who can blame them; MMA was built on the underground mystique and mentality. Is the move into supplementation an attempt to regain the hardcore fight crowd, or is TapouT simply putting their logo on another crap product in an attempt to bulk up their annual revenues as they deepen their corporate pockets?

On April 28, 2009, TapouT announced its licensing agreement with Champion Nutrition to offer sports enthusiasts TapouT Sports Nutrition products. Under this relationship, Champion Nutrition will design, distribute and market the Tapout Sports Nutrition brand to all retailers in the United States and abroad.  Champion is a well-known nutritional supplementation company, however, their line of products is robust with everything from feminine weight loss to bodybuilding products.  Champion, and many other nutrition companies, have tried to capture a piece of the lucrative MMA supplement industry.  But, true fighters have seemed to gravitate to fighter specific companies, such as Atlanta based Brawl Nutrition.

The problem lies within the current products offered within the supplementation market in relation to the needs of fighters.  Of course, fighters are the most well rounded athletes of any modern sport, which creates a true problem for supplement companies.  Fighters require strength, endurance, power, weight loss or gain (dependant upon weight class).  There is no wonder pill that captures all of these athlete attributes into one supplement.  Nutrition companies still associate muscle and mass with MMA dominance; endurance and technique can be far superior to brute strength.  Just look at Roy Nelson’s dominance of muscled-up Kimbo Slice on TUF 10.  Roy looks like a sloppy, burger eating trucker, but his technique was far superior to the muscled up yet undertrained Slice.

At first glance TapouT/Champion Nutrition’s line of supplements looks mean and gritty with its black bottle and grunge label, but it is what’s inside these bottles that has the MMA fighters buzzing.  To start, the product line is vast, and the selection can leave a fighter with a mind numbing decision regarding which product can best suit their needs.  Digging through this alternatives I noticed one similarity – I’ve used most of these products.  Sure, I haven’t used TapouT’s brand, but creatine, glutamine, protein, I’ve used them all, and so have most of the fighters I know and train with.  The brand known and respected by fighters worldwide appears to not really know the needs of fighters at all.  Protein isn’t exactly going to help you dominate your next fight, and one can hardly justify paying exorbitant pricing when protein, creatine, and glutamine can easily be purchased at the local drug store for a fraction of the price.  Plus, most of the TapouT’s products are in shake form, which has long been a complaint of fighters who dislike training on a full stomach, myself included.  At this point, the market needs more definition as to why a serious athlete should spend their money on Tapout’s ‘fighter specific’ line of products.  For me, I’m sticking with fighter specific products, which are better suited and dosed to my specific training program.  After all, I’m a fighter, not a TapouT disciple who will buy anything they slap their label onto.  I’ll keep my TapouT loyalty with my one six year old TapouT shirt that I own, for this line is far removed from what a true fighter needs to compete.  TapouT has been a blessing to our sport, so I wish them success.  However, I expect them to set an example for other companies to follow.  The example here: excessive greed.