In Honor of Charles "Mask" Lewis, TapouT Hosts First Movie Premiere

The TapouT brand has become synonymous with the sport of mixed martial arts.

The late Charles “Mask” Lewis and his co-founder Dan “Punkass” Caldwell began selling MMA T-shirts from their car at UFC events in 1997, back when the sport was still in its dark ages. Through their passion and dedication, Lewis and Caldwell were able to elevate TapouT into the multi-million dollar corporation that it is today.

Lewis died from a fatal car crash in March 2009 after a drunk driver collided with his Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale in Newport Beach, California. His death hit the hearts of not only his close friends and family, but MMA fans around the globe who shared Lewis’ passion for combat sports.

In honor of “Mask,” TapouT has opened up the Charles “Mask” Lewis movie theater from their headquarters in Grand Terrace, California. “Punkass” said work on the theater began shortly before Lewis' death and was done as a tribute to his late friend, since he loved movies.

The 92-seat theater is gladiator-themed with columns and two lion heads on each side of the screen, and a chariot podium sits in the center of a small speaking stage. Built inside a 1,500-square-foot warehouse that once served as company offices, the theater will also be used by TapouT for meetings, entertainment projects and special events.

On Monday TapouT held its first official movie premiere for the Lionsgate film Unrivaled , which features some of the world's top mixed martial arts fighters. Some of those fighters starring in the film include former UFC light heavyweight champions Forrest Griffin and Rashad Evans, in addition to “The Dean of Mean” Keith Jardine and Anthony “Rumble” Johnson.

The premise of the movie is based around a washed-up fighter (Hector Echavarria) who gets a miracle chance at a comeback to compete against the top fighter in the world. Alongside a star-studded cast of fighters will be a talented team of actors including Nicolas Campbell, who was in "Cinderella Man."

Evans plays the role of the film's main villain, Christopher Holland, an organization owner and top-ranked fighter. The former light heavyweight champ discussed the role and his thoughts on the character in an interview with Movie Set .

“My process for creating a character is just digging down and saying all the things that I wish I could say. It’s kind of exaggerating my character a little bit and being like, ‘you know what? I’m a bad dude’ and just believing in it and being like ‘Yeah, I’m bad’,” Evans said.

“What I like about the story is my character, Christopher Holland, because he’s somebody who invested in his organization and put the organization on the map and now he’s actually to the point where he’s playing the promoter a little bit, but he’s still a big-time fighter. So it’s like he has two hats, and he wears them both very well,” Evans said.

Joining Evans in the cast will be his team Jackson teammate and top-ranked middleweight Nate Marquardt. Marquardt plays the role of Luca “The Brute” and also discussed his thoughts on his role and the acting process with Movie Set .

“[My character] is just kind of a mean guy that goes in there with a lot of raw energy and raw power, he’s just a brawler. The way that I prepare for this kind of thing is that I just try to be myself as much as possible, and I kind of tap in to what I have right before my fights which is a mean-aggressive feeling,” Marquardt said.

“When I’m out there, I don’t think like ‘This is a movie.’ I think like ‘This is a real fight that I’m about to step into.' Sometimes before scenes, I’ll get those jitters like I’m about to step into an actual fight, and that anxious excitement you get, I think it helps you perform a lot better”.

Unrivaled will go straight to DVD and Blu-ray on Mar. 16.