UFC: Tapout is a video game in the fighting genre based upon the Ultimate Fighting Championship

Ultimate Fighting Championship

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is the largest mixed martial arts promotion company in the world that hosts most of the top-ranked fighters in the sport...

. The game was released in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 on February 28, 2002 for the Xbox

Xbox

The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...

 console.

Tapout was published by Crave Entertainment

Crave Entertainment

Crave Entertainment is an American video game company. It was founded in 1997 by Nima Taghavi. Its headquarters is in Newport Beach, California...

 and developed by DreamFactory. The subtitle Tapout refers to a fighter tapping his hand indicating that he has submitted to a submission hold. A tapout, along with a knockout, judge's decision, and referee stoppage, is one of the ways of ending a UFC bout.

The game features many of UFC's top stars including Matt Hughes

Matt Hughes (fighter)

Matthew Allen Hughes is an American mixed martial artist, UFC Hall of Famer, and former two-time UFC Welterweight Champion. Hughes put together two separate six-fight winning streaks in the UFC, won the welterweight title on two occasions, defended the belt a record seven times, and holds the...

, Chuck Liddell

Chuck Liddell

Charles David "Chuck" Liddell is a retired American mixed martial artist and former Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight champion. Liddell has an extensive striking background in Kempo, Koei-Kan karate and kickboxing, as well as a grappling background in collegiate wrestling.As of his...

, Mark Coleman

Mark Coleman

Mark Coleman is an American mixed martial artist, professional wrestler, former NCAA collegiate wrestler and former Olympic amateur wrestler. In MMA, he was the UFC 10 and UFC 11 tournament champion, the first Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight champion, and the Pride Fighting...

, Frank Shamrock

Frank Shamrock

Frank Shamrock is a retired mixed martial arts fighter. Shamrock was the first to hold the UFC Middleweight Championship and retired as the four-time defending undefeated champion...

, and Tito Ortiz

Tito Ortiz

Jacob Christopher "Tito" Ortiz is a Mexican-American mixed martial artist and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, having held the title from April 14, 2000 to September 26, 2003. Along with fighters like Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell, he was one of the sport's early stars...

. Competitions can take place in several modes such as exhibition, tournament, arcade, and championship mode. Several fighters throughout the game are unlockable such as two female competitors and celebrity Ice-T

ICE-T

* Ice-T, an American rapper and actor* ICE T , a tilting model of the German InterCityExpress series of high-speed trains...

.

UFC: Tapout received generally lukewarm reviews from critics. A sequel to this game entitled UFC: Tapout 2 was released in 2003. Other than an updated roster, the game is very similar to the first Tapout and received similar reviews. Tapout 2 was published by TDK Mediactive

TDK Mediactive

TDK Mediactive was a California-based video game publisher owned by TDK that published video games based on licensed properties such as:* Conan * Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis * Robotech: Battlecry * Robotech: The Macross Saga...

. Both games have an ESRB

Entertainment Software Rating Board

The Entertainment Software Rating Board is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings, enforces industry-adopted advertising guidelines, and ensures responsible online privacy principles for computer and video games as well as entertainment software in Canada, Mexico and...

rating of T for Teen.