From left to right: Mask, Punkass, and Skyskrape.
The mixed martial arts world was stunned in mid-March of this year when Charles "Mask" Lewis Jr., the co-founder and most outspoken member of MMA apparel giant TapouT, was killed by a drunk driver on a California highway. His legacy includes building up a clothing company, which grew from grossing $30,000 in 1999 to over $100 million in 2008, and sinking a ton of sponsorship money into up and coming fighters, helping to keep the sport alive when it was considered by some a dying sport and "human cockfighting."

And, his actions are being given its due this weekend, as it has been announced that he will join the ultra-exclusive UFC Hall of Fame along with UFC superstar Chuck Liddell. Mask will become the first non-fighter inducted, further illustrating how impactful his life outside of the Octagon was. But his death, though saddening, didn't mean the two remaining members, Punkass and Skyskrape, would just close up shop. In fact, they're continuing on with the business, even expanding it with the opening of a brand new 13,000-square-foot gym in Las Vegas, the TapouT Research & Development Training Center. Mixed martial arts' legendary TapouT crew talk once again sat down with us to talk about life after Mask's death, his Hall of Fame induction, and continuing his legacy by beating up five-year-olds.

MAXIM: So, last time we spoke, you guys were with Mask, who unfortunately passed away recently...
Punkass: That's cool you got to meet him, though!

Yeah, it was an honor to meet him, and he will definitely be missed. Obviously the business is still booming, as he would probably have wanted. What has been the biggest change in picking up where he had left off?
Punkass: It's different not having your best friend around, not being able to share those accomplishments with him. But, in a way we're excited to go out there because he was always excited. It's hard to do anything that he loved to do and change your attitude about doing it. Every time we go out, we think about him—it's almost like he's really there with us and speaking through us. I can hear myself and I know Skyskrape, too, doing interviews and we say the things that he used to say and we feel the same way when we go out and do that stuff. It's almost like we're still sharing it with him.
Skyskrape: Of course it's hard, it's difficult, the three of us were together almost every single day for the past twelve to fifteen years. Charles' dream was to make this thing as big as possible. There are so many other ways to make it huge, but to stop going out and influencing people, touching people, wouldn't do the business any justice. Punkass and myself still want to go out and meet as many fans as we can and just do as much as possible, as Charles would've done.

Along with Chuck Liddell, we've gotten word that Mask is going to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. What's your reaction to that?
Punkass: That speaks a lot about the type of person he was and how much people respected him. There are only five or six people in the UFC Hall of Fame and they are guys who were fighting in the first UFCs. They made huge changes in the sport, so for Charles to be in there says a lot about what he did. 

Now, referencing Charles' work, you guys are transitioning, uh—probably supplementing is a better word—your mixed martial arts apparel and gear brand with a training center. What's your aim with it?
Skyskrape: Well, you know how the sport is. We've been interwound with the sport since the beginning and people expect us to be a part of everything that has to do with the sport. I think it's a natural transition also to have a gym where people can come train because we honestly, I mean fifteen years ago we'd all talk about how one day the sport—as crazy as the sport was—would cause training centers to sprout up all across the United States. Especially now that we've learned that tae kwan do and kung fu alone just doesn't work—it's proven. MMA works. It's a proven self-defense, and I think people gravitate towards what works, so to have a gym like this along with all the other things that we're doing definitely made sense for us.

Now how does the training center work? Are there specific levels of previous training needed or are the doors open to everyone?
Skyskrape: It's really a mixture of everything. For example, Michael Bisping was in the Vegas gym training. Stephan Bonnar was in there training. We went out there for the grand opening and there were a hundred five-  to twelve-year-olds training jujitsu—

Was Bonnar beating up the five-year-olds?
Skyskrape: Well, Bonnar got beat up by a six-year-old little Hawaiian kid and then Bisping jumped on the little kid's back and choked him out, and then Bonnar jumped on Bisping's back and choked him out. [Laughs] It's a wide array of different things—if you're just a fan who wants to go in and train, you can do that. If you're a ten-year-old and you want to start fighting in ten years, you can go in there and start training. If you're a professional UFC fighter, you can go in there and train for your next fight. The range is huge. That five-year-old could be the next UFC Welterweight or Heavyweight Champion. You never know.

Check back tomorrow when Punkass and Skyskrape reveal their picks for this weekend's UFC 100 megacard.