In a strongly-worded public statement, long-running UK combat sports promotion Shock N Awe has expressed frustration over new requirements from Tapology, the leading global MMA record-keeping platform.
The controversy centers around Tapology’s demand for full video footage of events before updating fighter records—a requirement that Shock N Awe claims is being selectively enforced against UK promotions.
“For years, we have submitted a comprehensive and meticulously maintained spreadsheet to Tapology immediately following our events,” the promotion stated. “This document contains all the necessary information for them to log results quickly and accurately—an effort that goes well beyond the basic expectations of any promotion.”
According to Shock N Awe, Tapology representatives justified the new video requirement as being “due to the state of the UK MMA scene.” The promotion complied with the request, only to find that after several weeks, results were “partially uploaded—and with multiple significant errors.”
The statement indicates that despite three separate communications from their head official Mike Williams requesting corrections, the errors remain unresolved.
“These ongoing inaccuracies are now having a direct and negative impact on the careers of several athletes, which is unacceptable and grossly unfair,” the promotion noted.
The situation appears to have struck a chord within the UK MMA community, with several industry figures expressing support for Shock N Awe in responses to the statement.
“Tapology has lost its way of late. Several events I’ve tried to get results on only to be met with barriers, this is despite video evidence, score cards, etc.,” wrote James Anthony Lehart.
Another commenter, Matthew Thorpe, took issue with the apparent criticism of UK MMA, stating that “the state of the UK scene is vastly superior to the naff state of the U.S. amateur scene.”
Stuart Davies, presumably another UK promotion representative, shared a similar experience: “I was genuinely shocked and disappointed to receive a recent email from Tapology following the submission of our event results.”
Shock N Awe, which describes itself as “one of the longest-running independent combat sports events in the UK,” has been operating for over 15 years. Their statement concludes with a call for Tapology to “reconsider this approach and to engage in open dialogue with reputable promotions like ours to find a more balanced and fair process.”
