[robotic voice] Robots, activate.
[audience cheering]
All right.
[audience cheering and applauding]
Hey, everybody, and welcome to BattleBots.
The premiere destination for watching robots
punch each other in the face.
I am Chris Rose and joined, as always, by UFC legend
and robot combat analyst extraordinaire,
the one and only Kenny Florian.
[audience cheering and applauding]
[Kenny] Thanks, Chris.
It's great to be back here in Vegas, baby.
Yeah.
That's right.
Las Vegas has quickly become one of America's
greatest sports towns.
You've got the Raiders, you've got the Golden Knights,
you've got UFC, you've got BattleBots.
[audience cheering and applauding]
And of course, the list goes on and on and on.
[Kenny] Like any great sport, people have come from around the world
to see this year's tournament between our devastating roster of robots.
[Chris] That's right.
We are hitting the midway point of this season's qualifying round.
And in typical Sin City fashion,
the stakes are getting higher as the competition rolls on,
and the clock is ticking on these teams' chances to lock up a spot
in the World Championship tournament.
Kenny, what do you have your eye on tonight?
[Kenny] Well, in one of the biggest
surprise storylines of the season,
the lightning quick Claw Viper comes in at 2-0
and will try to make it 3-0 against fellow grappler bot, OVERHAUL.
And in the weird and wild category,
how about the monster Mammoth versus a bot that can be described as big,
gigantic or enormous, but don't call it Huge.
It's the intergalactic rookie, Starchild.
[Chris] And to cap it off, we have got a main event
so violent it really should be rated R.
Two of the most destructive combat robots ever built
will drop the gloves when the serrated spinner,
Cobalt collides with the Brazilian bazooka
known as Minotaur.
[Kenny] These two went blow for blow
back at World Championship IV,
it almost brought down the BattleBox.
They enter this season's showdown with undefeated records,
eyes on a top tournament seed,
and are both legitimate contenders
to take home the Giant Nut.
[Chris] But we kick things off with a matchup between
the horizontal blade of Bloodsport
and the full body spinner, Gigabyte.
It's a couple of heat-seeking missiles
still looking for their first win.
Hey, if you're near the strip, time to duck and cover.
Faruq, let's get this baby started.
[audience cheering and applauding]
[Faruq] Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready?
It's robot fighting time!
In the red square from Cambridge, Massachusetts,
where they have equations on the walls
and chanters follow them for some reason
while they're walking in the halls,
comes a bloodthirsty bot who will kill you in battle,
then stand over your body like,
"How do you like them apples?"
It's Bloodsport.
[audience cheering and applauding]
[Chris] Here's Team Bloodsport led by Captain Justin Marple on the left.
This bot is a hard hitter, Kenny,
but got its clock cleaned in fight number one.
How does the team bounce back?
[Kenny] Well, they're going with a new 68-pound disc
they call the Wheel of Misfortune.
It's their lightest weapon, but also their most stable.
They expect to be involved in at least one
massive collision in this fight.
So the ability to absorb shots and recover will be key.
[Faruq] In the blue square, going against this bot,
you're going to have a hard drive,
chances are you're gonna crash
and we'll definitely see sparks fly.
He will control-alt-delete your bot
with a message that's encoding
because when you see this spinning circle,
it means your death certificate is loading.
Give it up for Gigabyte.
[audience cheering and applauding]
[Chris] Gigabyte, the famed full body spinner.
Good to see the cutout of teammate Brent Rieker there.
Brent, of course, couldn't make it this season
as he is focused on winning his own battle with cancer.
We certainly wish Brent the best
and his team is missing his experience, Kenny.
[Kenny] There's no doubt new captains,
Derek Tran and Camden Wallraff,
got off to a rocky start in their first fight against Free Shipping.
Gigabyte is a powerful robot and a challenging one to drive.
Tonight's going to be another tough test
for the rookie captains.
For this fight, Bloodsport's configuring
the front of the robot with a big wedge.
It's a brand new design.
It's com... It's bent AR500.
So we hope it's going to be really tough.
But, you know, we haven't fought many horizontals before.
We haven't taken much damage, um, from horizontals,
so we don't really know what's gonna happen.
This fight's gonna come down to control.
We need to keep them in the corners, let the walls
do the work, let them pinwheel around.
Gigabyte is not an easy win.
We have to win this if we want to be in the playoffs.
We have to.
Challenge Bloodsport presents to Gigabyte
is they can run a wedge.
We're also big challenge for them
because we are essentially also a giant 360 degree wedge.
So if they turn their bar on, there's a pretty good chance
they just go to space.
Best case scenario, we get up to speed in the first
five, ten seconds, we hit them, they pop up,
maybe bounce into the wall,
and then we come in for a killing shot,
or at least something that damages their frame.
[audience cheering]
[robotic voice] Robots, activate.
[Chris] All right, Kenny Florian.
These are two violent horizontal spinners
whose fights often feature huge collisions.
Dial us in here.
[Kenny] Well, both teams need to be aggressive and spin up
as quickly as possible.
As you said, odds are a big box-rattling impact is coming.
This may come down to durability
and who can survive that giant shot.
[robotic voice] Red team, ready?
Let's go!
[robotic voice] Blue team, ready?
[Chris] There you go, Brent.
[audience cheering]
Gigabyte, Bloodsport.
If you're into bar fights, and who isn't,
this is your kind of matchup.
Let the bot battle begin!
Bloodsport in hot pursuit.
Gigabyte retreats.
Looking for some space to spin up.
And look at this, Bloodsport yet to fire up its weapon, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah.
I have no idea what Justin Marple is thinking here.
Unless there was something wrong with the weapon...
Gigabyte is spun up.
[Chris] Gets underneath.
It burns Bloodsport.
Oh!
Now, Gigabyte wants to keep this fight going.
A dicey moment there, and now some life from Bloodsport's blade.
That's good to see.
[Kenny] Oh, get ready for this high kinetic collision here.
[Chris] Oh, God!
Okay, now...
Young Gigabyte rockets 30 feet across the box
and into the short corner.
Bloodsport closes the distance,
but can either robot spin back up, Kenny?
[Kenny] There's some life from Bloodsport's blade.
Gigabyte looks rocked, though.
They've got to get out of that short corner, Chris.
[Chris] Yep.
That is not where Camden and Derek want to be.
They want to control the center of the box,
and Bloodsport smelled some blood out here.
They're now hunting for the knockout shot.
The weapon's down.
[Kenny] Gigabyte starting to smoke, Chris.
Bloodsport needs to finish the job.
He's got a belt on the ground now.
[Chris] Hey, we said it may come down
to durability and it looks like
Gigabyte's still feeling the effects of that big time shot.
Oh, they're gonna drop to 0-2
if they cannot revive this robot.
Let's go!
[cheering]
[Chris] The countdown has started.
Team Bloodsport is celebrating.
Team Gigabyte doesn't know what hit 'em.
[referee] ...three, two, one.
Knock out!
[buzzer blaring]
[Chris] But the answer is the 68 lb blade of Bloodsport.
Let's go.
[Chris] Kenny, both of these teams had to spin to win.
So what the heck was Justin Marple thinking holding Bloodsport
back like that to start?
[Kenny] I have no idea.
But not firing the weapon almost cost him the match.
Bloodsport got teed up on its side.
Gigabyte decided to lend a helping hand,
and after that it was all systems go.
[Chris] And here comes the big shot of the match.
[Kenny] Oh, wow!
Unbelievable.
[Chris] It was the combination of the speed
and the perfect angle.
[Kenny] If you've never seen this sport live,
you just can't fully appreciate
how terrifying shots like this are up close.
These are 250-pound robots taking flight.
That was insane.
[Chris] You know, there aren't a ton of robots
that can survive a collision like that.
Tonight, Bloodsport proved it is one of them.
Justin Marple, congratulations on win
number one this season.
Thank you.
All right.
Break down the strategy for us.
Yeah, I mean, I have to admit.
The strategy we were going in for,
at the beginning was to go full control,
and that clearly didn't work in the first,
you know, 10 seconds.
We went at full aggression and that's
when everything kind of kicked into gear.
I mean, this team is so awesome.
We've been working the midnight oil for the last three days,
getting this bot ready to go and getting ready
for the next fights as well.
Um, I'm so proud of them and I'm looking forward
to the next... next rotator fight.
How cool is it when you knock a 250-pound robot
clear across the BattleBox?
That is so much power.
I did not expect that.
And there's bits flying all over.
I... I... It never gets old.
Congratulations, man.
Way to break into the winner's column.
Thank you.
[audience cheering and applauding]
Kenny, that reminded me of the Bloodsport
from a few seasons ago.
[Kenny] No doubt.
Not a perfect game plan, but this bot can still deliver the big shots
and keep on ticking.
Remember, this was the number two seed
just two years ago.
Big bounce back win for Bloodsport.
They needed this momentum going into the back
half of their season.
And with Gigabyte, it's just always a learning experience
when you got young kids at the helm.
[Kenny] Yeah, it's a different ball game
when you go from being the lieutenant to the captain.
Two fights left, including one against End Game
for Derek and Camden to find their footing.
[Chris] All right, folks, settle in.
We are just getting started.
Coming up, the Usain Bolt of BattleBots,
Claw Viper, will try to run circles around
fellow grabber, OVERHAUL.
Both teams are undefeated.
And if you haven't seen
Claw Viper fight yet this season, buckle up.
[audience cheering]
We continue on here on BattleBots.
Up next on the fight card,
a matchup between a pair of undefeated grappler bots,
Claw Viper and OVERHAUL.
And Kenny, you know, there's always one or two teams
that when we talk to them in the pre-season,
we're like, "Okay, you're kind of cute,
but we don't expect you to contend for the Giant Nut."
And then the regular season starts,
we're like, "We're idiots.
Yes, we are."
Claw Viper has fallen into that category so far.
They have sped off to a impressive 2-0 start.
[Kenny] Yeah.
Claw Viper's speed has opponents at its mercy.
Captain Kevin Milczewski is locked in.
Yeah!
How about that!
[Kenny] And it's just so hard to control or knock out
a bot that you can't catch.
Claw Viper is having a breakthrough season,
and a win here
will all but guarantee Kevin his first ever trip
to the postseason.
They're taking on OVERHAUL.
Charles Guan's bot, 1-0.
They won a judge's decision over Starchild.
But as you can see, the schedule isn't getting any easier.
We know Claw Viper's coming in red hot.
Then... Yikes!
It's one of the heaviest hitters in the game, Cobalt.
Kenny, a win here tonight would go an awfully long way
towards building OVERHAUL's case
for a tournament berth.
[Kenny] Yeah, and the best answer
for Claw Viper's speed is to keep those wheels
off the ground.
Charles is so good at staying tight
and smothering his opponents.
If he can lock in some solid grabs,
he can make this a frustrating fight for Kevin Milczewski.
It's going to be an interesting fight.
Faruq.
[audience cheering]
[Faruq] In the red square from Seattle, Washington,
the bot that won't pass on the goal line
but will go full beast mode, it's Claw Viper!
[audience cheering and applauding]
[Chris] Knockouts so far this season of Ominous and Ribbot,
there's Kevin Milczewski all the way on the left.
You can see it on his face how confident he is.
[Kenny] Yeah, and he's not taking
anything for granted here.
He's got HyperShock next.
So if he takes his foot off the gas,
OVERHAUL could cause a lot of problems for Kevin.
[audience cheering and applauding]
[Faruq] In the blue square, from Atlanta, Georgia,
the bot that won't blow a 28-3 lead,
the original Dirty Bird, it's OVERHAUL.
[Chris] Okay.
Not sure the Atlanta Falcons fans
are going to forgive you for that one, Faruq.
But hey, there's Charles Guan.
You can tell he's riding high after starting off 1-0.
Could the grabber bot Renaissance be upon us, Kenny?
[Kenny] It's just nice to see non-vertical spinners
succeeding in such a tough field.
And I know Charles is pumped for this fight.
It'll be a technical match requiring a lot of precision.
A dance, if you will.
And Charles is ready to tango.
[audience cheering]
Going into a grappler versus grappler match
is actually more scary for me
than a spinner because it takes
control of the fight and never lets it go.
So once you get behind, it's really hard to get ahead.
So we have to get ahead early and then stay ahead.
Our speed and maneuverability is gonna be key tonight
for fighting against OVERHAUL.
We're going to try to start going one way, make him react,
and then go the other way.
And we're going to be able to go the other way
faster than he can.
So, like, literally, there's going to be nothing Charles can do
because his robot can't respond fast enough.
That's the goal. That's what we hope to do.
So Claw Viper's speed is probably
their biggest weapon in our fight.
OVERHAUL is a lot slower.
I'm gonna have to be on the defensive.
In general, I'm gonna try to keep my distance.
See what he's going to do, if he's going to come right at me.
Uh, I don't want to take him front to front.
There's probably going to be a lot of very tight maneuvering,
a lot of kind of sizing each other up,
trying to get the good angle, and just a lot of, like, smash and grab.
[robotic voice] Robots, activate.
[Chris] Kenny, Kevin told us that grabber on OVERHAUL
is so strong, it's part crusher.
[Kenny] That's right.
If Charles can get a good bite on the side of Claw Viper,
he can cause some serious internal issues for the bot.
[Chris] And Claw Viper's arms are just UHMW plastic,
like, the wheels of Huge.
Maybe Charles can try to rip one of those babies off.
Come on, Kevin.
[Kevin laughs]
[audience cheering]
[Chris] It's the robot combat version
of a world class wrestling match.
Which team stays undefeated?
Let the bot battle begin!
[Kenny] Oh!
[Chris] Oh, big time acceleration from Claw Viper
and its speed is on display right out of the gate.
[Kenny] It's unbelievable how fast that robot is,
attacking the sides of OVERHAUL.
- OVERHAUL... - [Chris] Whoa.
[Kenny] ...doesn't even know what's hitting him right now.
[Chris] No.
Nice job by Charles Guan to break free.
- [Kenny] Uh-oh. - [Chris] Oh.
Kevin Milczewski's bot's stuck on the floor.
[Kenny] Can OVERHAUL capitalize?
Nope.
Jeez!
Claw Viper even insanely fast in reverse, Chris.
[Chris] He's like a mosquito, except he packs a little more punch.
[Kenny] This is where he's got to be careful,
OVERHAUL almost got ahold of him.
[Chris] Very nice reversal by Claw Viper.
Gets to the back side of OVERHAUL.
Oh, and he's got hold of him.
Taking right into the screws.
And look at that.
[Kenny] What a display of control and aggression.
This is what Claw Viper has been doing
to every opponent it's had.
Grab. Grab that.
[shouting] No, buddy, go this way!
[Chris] Boy, look at the strength.
[people exclaiming]
[Chris] He's taking it right into the upper deck. Two minutes.
[Kenny] Charles doing an admirable job fending off
Claw Viper in close, Chris.
Doesn't have an answer for the speed,
but he has been grappling his heart out.
[Chris] Claw Viper with a dizzying array of moves so far.
[Kenny] And to make matters worse,
he's so low to the ground,
get underneath you repeatedly.
Hey, that's the sign.
[Chris] Hey, we're going to put that on your tab.
OVERHAUL on its head, can it self-right?
Gets to its feet, creates some space.
But Kevin Milczewski keeping the pressure on.
90 seconds in.
Oh, nice job taking OVERHAUL into the rails.
[Kenny] Check out these two.
Looking like a couple of kangaroos
up on their hind legs boxing it out.
[Chris] Claw Viper winning that pushing match.
[Kenny] So low to the ground, even when OVERHAUL
gets a good hold, Claw Viper just bullying him
around the BattleBox with ease.
[Chris] Claw Viper controlling the pace of this match.
Can OVERHAUL find a way to lock it up?
Maybe a solid grab and wrestle some control.
[Kenny] Now he's trying to get a lift there.
He's got... It has an opportunity.
[Chris] Yeah. Right there, and missed it.
[Kenny] Claw Viper just backs up with ease.
[Chris] Under a minute to go.
That means the kill saws are now active.
The bots doing a little dance.
Here's OVERHAUL, body slams Claw Viper,
keeping the pressure on in the short corner.
Nice move.
[Kenny] Uh-oh.
[Chris] And how about Charles Guan taking Claw Viper coast to coast!
[Kenny] What a reversal, Chris.
But OVERHAUL backs away.
[Chris] Ah!
Claw Viper self-rights but OVERHAUL throws away
a golden opportunity to get a grab,
maybe make an impression on the judges as well.
[Kenny] Yeah.
Odd choice there not to capitalize.
[Chris] 20 seconds remaining.
Claw Viper looking to close the show and move to 3-0.
Can OVERHAUL offer some resistance here in the final stretch?
The bots staring each other down.
Under ten to go.
Claw Viper... Oh, nice.
Can he ram him one more time?
[Kenny] Oh, now he's just showing off.
[Chris] Oh, that's...
They were like exchanging high ten at the end.
[buzzer blares]
[indistinct chatter]
[Chris] Another impressive performance
by Kevin Milczewski and Claw Viper,
but it does indeed now go to the judges.
Derek Young, Lisa Winter, and Fon Davis,
they can award a total of five points for damage
and three of each for aggression and control.
Kenny, Claw Viper's building speed was on display
from the get go, and Kevin Milczewski used it
for both offense and defense.
[Kenny] Yeah, he did a nice job racking up points
early on by just ramming into OVERHAUL.
Never really stopped moving, which made it difficult
for Charles Guan to line up a solid grab,
and when OVERHAUL wiffed,
Claw Viper took advantage.
[Chris] But towards the end of the fight,
it looked like OVERHAUL did have a chance to turn the tables.
[Kenny] Yeah, Charles took Claw Viper
coast to coast right into the wall,
but as Kevin Milczewski's bot was self-righting,
about the only thing Claw Viper does do slowly,
OVERHAUL backed off a huge missed opportunity.
[Chris] So, unanimous decision then for Claw Viper?
[Kenny] I actually think this fight was much closer
than it seemed and that's why it's unfortunate
OVERHAUL backed off at the end.
Two more big slams into a wall
might have been enough to flip damage points and then who knows?
[Chris] Let's get a judges' decision with Faruq.
The results from the judges are in.
And the winner by unanimous decision is...
Claw Viper!
[audience cheering and applauding]
[Chris] Kevin Milczewski, how does 3-0 sound
so far this season?
Sounds amazing.
It sounds like Top 32 to me.
Hey, even better than that,
what has been the biggest difference
for you this season?
We increased the downforce that holds the robot
to the floor and it makes it drive a whole lot better.
Kevin, with the way that you drive,
how many speeding tickets do you have back in Seattle?
[all laughing]
None. There's too much traffic.
[Chris] Ah, great point.
Hey, uh, one more regular season match.
It's against a good one in HyperShock.
Can you smell 4-0?
We can smell it.
It sounds painful, but we can smell it.
Kevin, great job so far.
You've been awesome to watch this season.
Thank you, guys.
- Dude. - Good fight.
That was amazing.
Good job, guys.
[Chris] Okay.
So Claw Viper for didn't get its third straight knockout,
but this will certainly suffice.
[Kenny] Yeah.
And you got to give it up for Kevin Milczewski.
He had a couple of tough seasons,
but now he's finally figured the bot out.
Claw Viper's absolutely dominating,
and as a grappler, no less, just amazing.
[Chris] And again, they close out the qualifiers
against last year's most destructive team, HyperShock.
That becomes a high stakes matchup.
If Claw Viper can manage a win,
they put themselves in position
for a top tournament seed.
Coming up, there's a storm on the horizon.
As Josh Kong's wildly unique rookie bot
looks for its first career win
against the British brawler Monsoon.
It's meta breaking design
versus massive vertical spinner
when we return here on BattleBots.
[audience cheering]
We continue on here on BattleBots.
Up next, Monsoon taking on Horizon,
a pair of bots that are both
coming off of season opening losses.
Let's start with the innovative rookie,
Horizon, captained by 20-year-old Josh Kong.
Now, this is actually a scaled up version
of Josh's 12-pound robot Skyline,
which has had an awful lot of success
at local events like the NHRL.
But scaling up can be tough,
and this unique design's maiden voyage
as a heavyweight was a bit of a failure to launch, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, we've seen meta breaking bots scaled up before.
Huge is a great example,
but it can take time to figure out
what works at 250 pounds.
Just look at Tantrum, winless in season three,
champs in season six.
And while Josh will try to learn something
about his bot in every fight,
he might not learn too much tonight
because he's about to step in the ring with a buzz saw.
[Chris] Yeah, a British buzz saw, Kenny.
Monsoon, led by Tom Brewster, is coming off a match
in which they nearly dealt Black Dragon
its first ever knockout.
Yeah, they lost, but it was their first fight since 2019.
Certainly no shame in losing to a robot like Black Dragon.
Can they rebound tonight?
[Kenny] Well, Chris, Black Dragon is as tough as they come.
And obviously, you can't underestimate your opponent.
But I think the team's going to come out swinging tonight
and try to get the sun to set early on Horizon.
[Chris] Okay, the bots are ready to rock and so are we.
Let's get this fight started.
[robotic voice] Red team, ready?
[Chris] Captain Josh Kong pushing the button.
He calls Horizon a glass cannon.
It's designed with offensive power in mind,
but is weak defensively due to a lack of armor.
Kenny, does Horizon have a path to victory
against a heavy hitter like Monsoon?
[Kenny] Well, they're going to be targeting
the flanks of Monsoon, and if they can get those dual disk spinners going,
they have a puncher's chance.
They're pumping way more power
into the weapon system tonight,
which should cut their spin up time in half.
[robotic voice] Blue team, ready?
[Chris] Wire specialist, Tim Rackley there.
Sipping a cup of Earl Grey, I assume.
How do the boys from the UK
plan to keep Horizon away
from Monsoon's exposed wheels, Kenny?
[Kenny] Well, they swapped out their front forks for that
large wedge attachment.
They plan to use it to deflect shots
from Horizon's disk spinners,
as well as feed Horizon up into their weapon.
Look out for a box rush from the Brits to start.
Monsoon!
[audience cheering]
Monsoon on the Horizon.
[audience cheering]
Fight, fight, fight, fight, fight...
[Chris] Let the bot battle begin!
And here comes Monsoon
on the attack, knocking Horizon right on the nose.
[Kenny] A strong start for Monsoon
as they chip away at Horizon.
[Chris] Now Horizon sitting on Monsoon.
That's probably a decent strategy.
Tom Brewster escapes, resets, spins back up.
[Kenny] Oh!
Another big shot by Monsoon and...
[indistinct]
Yeah!
- Yeah! - [Chris] Oh, my gosh.
[Kenny] Horizon goes flying.
[Chris] Stuck on its head,
kinda laying dead or playing dead
by the pulverizer, who knows.
Can you show me anything?
You got any self-right?
[Chris] I think Josh Kong's squad may have had enough.
One of those dual discs is still spinning,
but the countdown has started
and a record of 0-2 is now on the...
Horizon.
...one! Knock out!
[audience cheering]
Come on, come on.
Come on.
[indistinct chatter]
Monsoon!
[Chris] Well, Monsoon, they had a plan
and went full throttle.
[Kenny] I mean, this was just full on aggression.
Complete blitzkrieg here against Horizon,
just chopping them up.
And once they got inverted,
they were in big time trouble.
[Chris] And there's so much open space on Horizon.
It was just kind of a sitting duck in this case.
[Kenny] Yeah, they were just totally
and completely outmatched here.
Welcome to the heavyweight division, Josh.
No mercy from Monsoon.
[Chris] Yeah, that 42-pound weapon
dishing out the punishment.
It's gonna take a lot of repairs.
I'm feeling a lot of emotions right now.
[indistinct chatter]
- [Chris] Tom? - Yeah.
Why are you, why are you so teary-eyed right now?
It's been three years. It's...
We've been working on this thing on and off for...
for three years, and we've all been through so much.
Everyone has, but it's...
Sorry, it's just been so long coming.
There it is.
Tom, how tough was it when you were back overseas
and all your friends were here at BattleBots
and you couldn't be a part of it?
I know you missed a lot of your BattleBots family.
Tell Tim to get the heck out of the way, by the way.
Get... get in here, Tim.
Get here.
It's... It was, it was hard work.
It was gutting.
You know, last year our crate made it,
but we couldn't fly because of the state of the world.
But it was hard work seeing everyone fighting without us.
But it's... it's like being back with the whole family.
It's so good to be back.
Thank you. Thank you.
[audience cheering and applauding]
[Chris] Well, Tom, it's good to see you back.
And you still have two more regular season fights left to go.
Thank you. Thank you so much.
- Thank you. - Monsoon!
[audience cheering and applauding]
[Chris] You know, Kenny, it has been a difficult
few seasons for everybody around the world,
but for a lot of the BattleBots family,
which couldn't partake, I understand him being overcome with emotions.
[Kenny] Yeah. And that was a big win.
With their strength of schedule,
one more win might lock them up a spot
in the round of 32.
[Chris] And where does Josh Kong go from here, Kenny?
[Kenny] Well, now they just have to try to finish strong.
BattleBots season can be a meat grinder
for even grizzled veterans, but it's like we said before the fight,
you never know when a unique rookie is going to pop.
[Chris] Speaking of unique rookies,
coming up, we have got a matchup
that reads like a fever dream from Ridley Scott.
It's Starchild versus Mammoth,
two of the biggest combat robots on the planet,
both looking to bounce back from 0-1 starts.
And we'll have a special guest sitting box side
with us for that fight.
Anna Zolnikov, the captain of RIPperoni.
The pizza's fresh off a massive upset of Endgame.
We're gonna hear all about it.
That is next on BattleBots.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] We are back on BattleBots.
That guy is Kenny Florian.
This guy is Chris Rose.
That young lady is Anna Zolnikov.
She, of course, is the captain of one of the outstanding
rookie bots this year, RIPperoni,
which in your last fight,
you dismantled a former Giant Nut winner in Endgame.
Are you still riding high over that?
Absolutely.
That was so fantastic.
I loved watching the bot work the way
that it was designed to work and it was driven flawlessly.
We're very happy with that fight.
What was it like when you walked back in the pits?
It was crazy.
Everyone was cheering "pizza."
I think for like 40 minutes after the fight,
so many people came to say hi to us
and to look at the robot, and we were really excited
to explain it to everyone and have everyone stop by
and look at the bot.
All right. Well, let's move it forward here.
We've got a battle of the behemoths.
As rookie bot, Starchild, looks for its first career win
against Ricky Willems' Mammoth.
Now, remember the epic Huge-Mammoth fight
from a couple of years ago?
Well, this could be just as much fun.
Brandon Zalinksy's Starchild is similar to Huge,
but after starting off 0-1,
they still need to show this wild design could be effective.
What do you think about Starchild, Anna?
Starchild is a really cool bot.
I think it's called a thwackbot.
So the idea is that it stops quickly
and the body continues swinging over,
and then it can hit things in front of it like a hammer.
But instead of a traditional hammer bot,
which has a hammer that it lays down,
this is using the whole body to do the hit.
Is that what you used to do in your fight game?
You just used the whole body?
Kind... Pretty much that's what you're doing.
Is your nickname Thwack and you just never told me?
I guess.
Well, Mammoth is a very unique robot as well.
So how do you think this fight is going to go down?
[Anna] I think that the fight could go either way.
We're going to see Mammoth's weapon
bouncing back and forth as well as Starchild's wheels.
If Starchild gets one of the chains on Mammoth,
then Starchild will win the fight,
but if Mammoth takes a wheel
and sticks it into somewhere
that Starchild can't roll out of,
then Mammoth could take it.
You ready to check out the fight?
Absolutely. All right.
Faruq.
[audience cheering and applauding]
[Faruq] In the red square, from Hudson, New Hampshire.
When you wish upon a star,
you'll get a star from his metal bar, it's Starchild.
[Chris] Team Starchild, captain Brandon Zalinsky
on the right in the floral shirt.
He's outfit, and actually everything about this team
is an homage to the movie Alien.
Now, those are Tegris wheels,
similar to the ones Huge uses, right, Anna?
[Anna] Absolutely.
Those are probably the most complicated thing on Starchild.
They took a lot of effort to make, but they look absolutely beautiful.
There's over 250 rivets in each of those wheels
that they did by hand.
[Chris] Wow.
BattleBots, it's a labor of love.
[audience cheering]
[Faruq] In the blue square, from Baltimore, Maryland.
He's big and dangerous, call him Andre the violent.
Give it up for Mammoth!
[Chris] Mammoth, coming off their first ever loss in a season opener.
And, Kenny, even though Starchild
is a rookie robot, Ricky Willems is not
underestimating his opponent tonight.
[Kenny] Yeah.
All the vital internals of Mammoth,
the batteries, the gearbox, its chains,
are all susceptible to an overhead attack.
So they've added extra armor to help protect
against what they assume will be a barrage of thwacks.
[Chris] Ricky Willems pulling out
all the stops to ensure he doesn't go 0-2.
[audience cheering]
As far as our strategy going into this fight,
get the weapon spun up as fast as we can
and just start swinging it around.
Mammoth has a lot of catch points.
If we can catch a tube, if we can catch a chain,
we can turn the balance of the fight in an instant.
The biggest thing that Starchild can do is attack us from the top.
I need to stay in control of the match
as much as I possibly can and I need to make sure that
any time that they're about to hit me, I hit them first.
If we lose tonight, we still have a shot at the top 32,
but we're going to have to be perfect the rest of the season,
and that's a really tall order.
[robotic voice] Robots, activate.
[Chris] Well, in Starchild's debut,
Brandon Zalinsky had trouble landing big shots.
What are you expecting tonight, Anna?
Um, I know that they solved some control issues
they were having with the speed controllers
on the weapon, so it should spin a lot faster
and deliver a better hit.
[Chris] All right.
Well, get ready for what should be
a whacky fight for all the right reasons.
Can Brandon Zalinsky get that weapon system dialed in?
Or will Mammoth send Starchild back into orbit?
The circus is in town,
the freaks are running wild when we return here on BattleBots.
Yeah!
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Welcome back to BattleBots,
where we are mere moments away
from a clash between a couple of colossal creatures.
Rookie robot Starchild is hoping to thwack
veteran squad Mammoth back to the ice age.
Both teams are still looking for their first win of the season,
so this should be an all-out war of the weird.
And helping us break it all down
is RIPperoni's Anna Zolnikov.
Anna, who do you like in this one?
I think Starchild will prove thwack is not wack.
[audience cheering]
Fight, fight, fight, fight, fight...
[Chris] Starchild.
Mammoth, where else in the world can you see
a fight like this?
Let the bot battle begin!
The six foot Mammoth is on the attack.
Oh!
Quick, quick, quick.
Self-right, self-right, self-right now.
[Chris] The big boys get tangled right out of the gate.
Starchild caught up in the screws
and Mammoth flopping around trying to right itself.
Other way. Other way!
[Kenny] Brandon Zalinsky needs to take advantage here, Chris.
He's all lined up.
Misses on that thwack.
[Chris] Starchild has Mammoth pinned in the corner.
Mammoth try to find its feet, and does.
These two giants get up close and personal to start this match.
It's awesome to see.
[Kenny] Mammoth with a nice reversal,
now boxing in Starchild.
[Chris] Uh-oh! Uh-oh!
Starchild's got to get away from the railing, and it does.
Hit, hit, hit, hit, hit, hit, hit, hit, hit.
[Kenny] Ricky Willems, the more aggressive driver so far.
[Chris] Uh-oh!
[Chris laughs]
Oh, yeah.
Break the chain. Break the chain.
[Kenny] Uh-oh!
A little piggyback ride.
Come over here, Starchild.
[Chris] Uh-huh.
[Kenny] Let me introduce you to the BattleBox.
[Chris] How the heck is Starchild going
to get out of that thing, Anna?
[Anna] Oh, that has got to be one of the greatest sticks
in the history of BattleBots.
[Chris and Kenny laughing]
[Chris] Let's see if these two behemoths
can untangled themselves.
If not, we may have a stop down coming.
We're close.
Shake loose. You can do it.
[indistinct chatter]
[Chris] Whoa.
- [Kenny] There you go. - [Chris] Okay, so we fight on.
The 100-pound pulverizer welcoming Starchild back into the action.
And, Kenny, who do you have ahead on the scorecards at this point?
[Kenny] Well, not a ton of damage either way,
but right now I'd give the aggression edge to Mammoth.
And you see right there,
Ricky's done a good job
keeping Starchild off balance with that lifting arm.
That's gonna earn him some points in the control category.
[Chris] Uh-oh.
Starchild in the corner.
Got to get out of there.
One minute remaining.
Can Starchild find a way to thwack
back and even this match?
That's the question.
[Kenny] Ricky Willems' experience is really showing in this fight, Chris.
[Chris] Brandon Zalinsky, a veteran driver as well.
But this is only Starchild's second fight at the heavyweight level,
and it's proving to be a difficult robot to control,
don't you think, Anna?
[Anna] You know, Ma... Mammoth is doing a good job
not letting him drive back and spool into it.
[Chris] Ricky Willems looking to make an impression
on the judges here down the stretch.
He is giving Starchild the grand tour of the BattleBox,
taking it corner to corner.
You can see a little bend in that lifting arm,
by the way, on Mammoth now, but Mammoth,
very effective with that weapon in this fight, Kenny.
- There's no question about it. - [Kenny] Yeah.
Ricky is going to be happy with this performance.
A well-executed game plan by Mammoth.
[Chris] Final seconds kick away in this weird,
whacky and wonderful BattleBots contest.
[indistinct chatter]
[Chris] And after three minutes of heavyweight combat,
the judges will now be tasked with declaring a victor.
Yeah! Let's go!
[indistinct shouting]
I'm so sorry, guys.
[woman 1] No, you're fine.
[woman 2] You're doing great.
It's beautiful when the thing works like it's supposed to.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Hey, where else but BattleBots can you see
250-pound robots flying through the air like this, Kenny?
[Kenny] Yeah.
Shades of the Mammoth versus Huge classic
from a few years back with those aerial gymnastics.
[Chris] With Mammoth inverted, Starchild had a window
to land some thwacks, but could not capitalize.
And from there it was pretty much all Mammoth.
[Kenny] Excellent driving by Ricky Willems in this one,
using the lifting arm to keep Starchild at bay and off-balance.
I thought Mammoth dominated the control category.
And in a fight without much visible damage,
that may be the deciding factor.
[Chris] Anna, after two fights, it seems to me like Starchild
may just be a very difficult bot to control.
[Anna] Yeah, I'm really hoping to see Starchild fight
like a smaller, lower robot.
That's really what it was designed to do,
is take on robots with small spinners
that are really fast and low.
So this was an awkward matchup for Starchild,
but I think he did a great job.
[Chris] Both bots in jeopardy of falling to 0-2 here.
Faruq has the decision.
The results from the judges are in.
The winner by unanimous decision is...
Mammoth!
[all cheering]
Hey, Ricky.
- Congratulations. - Hi.
Well, yes. Hello.
Welcome back to the Mammoth show.
Wait. BattleBots. BattleBots.
Hello.
[Chris] I know it was a tough first fight.
How rewarding is it to bounce back like that?
Oh, it... it was fantastic.
We all needed that.
We needed the win.
It wasn't the first fight...
Okay, fine. We'll take it.
But, but the second fight, like, that's still good.
I... No words.
It was somewhat reminiscent of your,
of your fight against Huge from a couple seasons ago.
There's a lot of gymnastics going on.
What was the strategy?
I mean, the strategy...
I really, really wanted to get Brandon out of the arena.
I know we could do it.
Maybe if we get another shot later in the tournament,
that's what will happen.
I don't know. Uh...
But, yeah, it was fantastic.
Ricky, congratulations.
We'll see you in your next fight.
Yeah. Oh, thank you.
[indistinct chatter]
[Chris] All right, So Mammoth gets back to 500.
Wasn't the most impressive performance, but hey,
I love seeing a smile on Ricky Willems' face, don't you?
[Kenny] Yeah.
First time we've seen it all season.
As far as Starchild, that's kind of the growing pains
with the interesting bot like that, don't you think?
Yeah, of course.
RIPperoni totally understands.
It's... it's really tough to go out there,
especially with a brand-new bot
that's only been driven around a parking lot and,
you know, deliver the exact performance that you want it to.
I totally understand.
And I think that once they work the kinks out,
that bot is going to be ferocious.
[Chris] All right.
We will see you in a couple of weeks
when you take on HiJinx in your next fight.
By the way, I love the pizza charm.
That is very cool.
Let's hear it for Anna Zalinsky of Team RIPperoni.
Zolnikov.
Oh, Zo...
- Zolnikov. - Brandon Zalinsky...
- ...Anna Zolnikov.
Did I marry you guys accidentally right here?
If so, I didn't even get you guys a gift.
I'm so sorry about that.
Anna Zolnikov, Brandon Zalinsky, Chris Idiot.
Hey, coming up, I think I've got these names right.
A team that scored a 33-second knockout in its first fight,
Copperhead will try and land another venomous bite on Triton,
The bot with the biggest weapon in the entire field.
Should be a good one.
That is next on BattleBots.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Welcome back to week seven of the BattleBots season.
We are getting closer to tonight's main event
where the buzzing blade of Cobalt will try to slice
right through the Brazilian bull Minotaur.
But up next, it's a clash of designs.
A rookie sporting the biggest weapon in the field,
Triton, is set to face off with one of the most
compact bots around, Copperhead.
And let's start with Triton.
Kicked off its season sideways, literally,
in its debut fight against LUCKY!.
Ended up on its side, couldn't self-right,
and then got counted out.
What happened there, Kenny?
[Kenny] Well, Captain Bradley Hanstad learned the hard way
that it doesn't matter how big your weapon is,
if you can't drive, it's useless.
They were having a lot of trouble
keeping that weapon pointed forward
kind of all over the place.
If they could solve those driving issues,
it's anchors away for Triton.
[Chris] And Triton will give it another go
against the little tyke with a big bite, Copperhead, Luke Quintal.
He is the third captain in as many seasons for this robot.
He said, "Listen, last season I thought
that we were a little passive
when it came to driving out there.
I'm going full throttle, and we know that weapon is A-OK as well."
[Kenny] Yeah, absolutely.
Copperhead is a serious powerhouse.
KO'd Bloodsport in just 33 seconds
in fight number one, lit it up like a Christmas tree.
Now, even though that fight was a one hitter quitter,
Copperhead took significant damage
to its frame in that exchange.
But Luke says the team's been working
around the clock in the Lincoln Electric tent
to repair and fortify the bot ahead of this matchup.
[Chris] I know a good way to undo all that hard work.
Put it in the box against an 80-pound weapon.
That is the heaviest that a weapon can be here at BattleBots.
Faruq.
[audience cheering]
[Faruq] In the red square, from Las Vegas, Nevada,
get near his vicious spinner
and they'll be declaring him the winner, it's Triton.
[Chris] Triton led by 6'7" Bradley Hanstad,
and they made some changes to help make that giant weapon
a little more effective tonight.
- Right, Kenny? - [Kenny] Yeah.
Bradley cut out weight from Triton's chassis
so he could add a bigger pulley to their weapon system.
That'll help the blade to spin more consistently.
Wants to dish out some massive hits to Copperhead.
[audience cheering]
[Faruq] In the blue square, from Denver, Colorado,
the killer snake that can make you break,
give it up for Copperhead!
[Chris] Oh, boy.
What do we got here?
Luke, is he all right?
What is this, Weekend at Bernie's?
Oh, oh.
Attaway, Luke.
Well, I hope he could stay awake for this fight
because playing dead won't work against a bot like Triton.
[Kenny] Yeah. Bracing for big impacts.
They've actually welded a bar that connects
their front forks, which should improve
the bot's structural integrity.
It's been a time consuming precaution,
but against an 80-pound weapon,
they're not taking any chances.
[audience cheering]
Copperhead is one of the most stout robots here.
I know they're already preparing their robot for us,
specifically by welding the whole frame together.
We have to hit 'em as hard as possible
and try to bend their frame
and don't give them any easy hits on our sides.
This fight is definitely not going three minutes.
Hopefully it's over as quickly as possible.
I think we will win.
I think it's just about avoiding taking
massive damage in the process.
We took a lot of damage in our last match and we're...
we know that Triton can also do the same kind of damage.
We want to be really meticulous
with how we encounter them,
but they have almost no armor.
So we know if we can land one solid hit,
the match should be over.
You got it, buddy?
Yep.
Big boom, big boom.
[robotic voice] Robots, activate.
[Chris] All right, Kenny, horizontal versus vertical spinner,
who has the advantage here?
[Kenny] Well, during a collision,
vertical spinners can use the ground
as a base of support.
Horizontals can't.
That's why when horizontals land a shot,
they usually fly across the box.
Basically, the ground helps verts transfer energy more efficiently,
which gives them the edge.
But it really all comes down to timing.
[man cheering] Go, Copperhead!
[robotic voice] Red team, ready?
[Chris] That is Bradley's girlfriend, Shea.
They met through BattleBots last year.
[robotic voice] Blue team, ready?
- Hit it! - Yeah!
[audience chanting] Fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight...
[Chris] Let the bot battle begin!
Copperhead on the attack, but nice job by Triton...
- [Kenny] Oh. - [Chris] ...warding it off.
Triton, a little bit out of control here.
But that blade looks better than last fight.
[Kenny] Yeah, definitely.
Much more durable as well.
[audience exclaiming]
[Kenny] Uh, what was I saying?
[Chris] I have no idea what you said.
Copperhead disembowels Triton.
But uh-oh, hold on.
Is Copperhead having issues as well, Kenny?
The weapon is spinning, but the bot here is not moving.
[Kenny] I think it's high centered
on part of the guts of Triton, Chris.
[indistinct shouting]
[Chris] Oh, my gosh.
Oh, yeah. Oh, my gosh.
Yes.
[Chris] Is this a double countdown?
...six, five, four, three, two, one.
Knockout.
[Chris] That was unbelievable.
Wow!
In 35 seconds.
[Kenny] Look at smoke over there.
[Chris] Unreal.
All right, Kenny.
So both teams have been counted out by the refs.
Tell us what happens from here.
[Kenny] Yeah, it's a simultaneous countdown,
so now it will be decided by the judges.
Remember, we saw this happen last year in a fight
between Mammoth and Tombstone.
That fight, a little less one-sided than this one, though.
BattleBots is about doing things that are amazing.
And that [bleep] amazing.
You okay?
It's amazing.
[Chris] Kenny, I think we all knew this one
wasn't going the distance.
[Kenny] Yeah.
You know, Triton and got a few good jabs in
to start the match but after two fights,
I think it's safe to say that this bot
has some maneuverability issues to sort out.
[Chris] A big time driving error by Bradley Hanstad,
feeding Triton's backside directly into Copperhead's drum,
and look out!
[Kenny] Oh, my goodness.
There go the guts.
Nasty.
Bradley is going to wake up in a cold sweat tonight
replaying this shot in his head.
[Chris] And check this out.
With its dying breath, Triton just slides
one of its batteries right underneath Copperhead,
that left it high centered,
which resulted in a double count out.
Not a whole lot for the judges
to debate in this one, though.
Here is Faruq with the decision.
The results from the judges are in.
And the winner by unanimous decision is...
Copperhead.
[all cheering]
[Chris] All right, Luke, congratulations.
You improved to 2-0.
You almost went from the highs to the lows
because you throttled that robot,
but you weren't moving.
Were you worried at all?
I wasn't too worried.
I think we stopped moving because we got stuck on their battery.
There's just a bunch of shrapnel in the arena,
so I don't know if that was really a double knockout or what,
but we got the win, so we're pumped.
Yeah.
Luke, you said you wanted to be aggressive this season.
That's exactly what you're doing, man.
Yeah, I mean, we're just, you know, it's an old robot,
but we still got a lot of life in it.
We just want to spin it up and get some mega hits
and put on a good show for everybody.
Hey, keep doing your thing.
All right. Thank you.
[indistinct chatter]
I love Luke's confidence and I understand
where it comes from, huh?
[Kenny] Absolutely.
But the crazy thing is, we've only seen Copperhead
in action for about 60 seconds this season,
and both wins came against horizontals.
What happens in a longer fight with another vert?
Well, they'll see RIPperoni in fight number four.
So I think we're going to find out.
[Chris] And as far as Triton's concerned,
another KO loss for the rookie squad.
Do you think their season is capsized, Kenny?
[Kenny] I mean, an 80-pound weapon isn't going to do
you much good at this level
if you can't control your robot.
Triton needs to solve those driving issues or, yeah,
they could be toast.
[Chris] All right. Well, coming up.
Matt Spurk's redesigned Kraken looks to bounce back
from an opening fight loss against the 1-0 LUCKY!.
It's a sea monster from Florida,
and a Canuck who can flip ya like a hockey puck.
That's next on BattleBots.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] We are back on BattleBots World Championship VII,
and up next, pair of veterans squaring off.
It's LUCKY! against Kraken.
And as they get locked and loaded in the box,
let's take a look at our main event featuring two of the most
lethal teams in BattleBots history.
[Kenny] Oh!
What a shot by Minotaur!
[Chris] Whoa!
...there's Minotaur right on top of them!
Starting off with 2-0 was very important
because our next two fights are gonna be really tough.
The next match we have Cobalt.
Last time we faced Cobalt and it was very violent.
[Chris] Oh, Minotaur! Oh, my gosh!
Things fell from the ceiling.
[Kenny] There goes the wedge of Cobalt,
that didn't last long.
[Chris] There go our lights too.
It is probably one of the best fights I've ever had.
Minotaur hit us into the wall and then we hit ourself
off the wall and bounced like 15 foot in the air.
[Chris] Whoa!
And somehow, Cobalt is still working!
[Marco] Cobalt has a very powerful disc.
A lot of energy there.
It's a very tough robot.
It's very hard to hit.
[John] So we're making a change to the Cobalt
just for this fight.
We've added some nice, long, thin forks
that we designed yesterday, and we got made overnight
and shipped to us.
They'll glide underneath the drum
and we can feed their face into our fist.
Cobalt's probably going to try to get underneath us with his forks,
but we have Daniel, and Daniel is violent.
When Daniel starts driving, his face changes.
He forgets everything.
Time passes differently.
He becomes Minotaur.
I hope that people don't get an impression
that there's nothing personal there.
'Cause this fight will be so violent,
nobody knows what's gonna happen.
[Chris] That one may just bring the house down.
[audience cheering]
And there they are.
Check it out.
Cobalt, Minotaur completing their final safety tests.
Two teams that are not scared to go weapon on weapon.
This one has the makings of an instant classic.
It is coming your way shortly.
We cannot wait.
But right now, back to the matchup at hand.
Let's start with the man from Canada,
Mark Demers and his flipper bot LUCKY!.
Listen, they're not one of the premier flipper bots,
at least in most people's eyes.
They might not be the Hydra, they might not be the Blip.
But, Kenny, it's incredibly well-driven,
and that's helped them get off to a 1-0 start.
[Kenny] Yeah.
Driver Matt Olson has been a game changer for this team
since joining last year.
He's doubled their career win total,
and against Triton,
he put on a master class on deflecting blows from a horizontal weapon.
Tonight, though, they're not only facing a vertical spinner,
but a vertical spinner that can attack from above.
[Chris] And that vertical spinner,
of course, belongs to the retooled Kraken.
After years of having trouble scoring damage points,
Matt Spurk brought the noise
in his first fight of the season.
Now they lost in a judge's decision,
but for a brand-new bot,
that was an encouraging performance for Spurk and his crew.
[Kenny] Yeah, the weapon looked great.
It sits on that articulating jaw
so they can drop the hammer saw,
a la SawBlaze or keep it low and run it just
as a vertical spinner.
Now, there's a bit of a learning curve
driving a robot with a massive weapon on it,
but with one fight in the books,
hopefully Matt will have it more dialed in.
[Chris] All right.
Well, these two teams are on the driver's deck
and ready for liftoff.
[audience cheering and applauding]
[robotic voice] Red team, ready?
[Chris] Matt Olson, the driver there with the comms headset on.
"Talk to me, Goose. Talk to me."
Kenny, how's this team prepared for Kraken?
[Kenny] Well, because Kraken can attack from above,
they've pulled all the armor from the sides of LUCKY!
and added that weight up top.
Their pneumatic pump sits under that lifting arm,
so they do not want to risk having that detonated in the BattleBox.
[robotic voice] Blue team, ready?
[Chris] Matt's 15-year-old son, Cayden,
pushing the button there.
He was working the weapon in fight one.
But 12-year-old Ethan will be operating it tonight.
And, Kenny, LUCKY! sounds ready
for Kraken's overhead attack.
So if you're Matt Spurk, what's your strategy?
[Kenny] Well, if I were on team Kraken, I'd keep the weapon
low and run it as a traditional vertical spinner.
LUCKY!'s wheels are completely exposed.
Take those out and you take out LUCKY!.
[audience chanting] Fight, fight, fight, fight, fight...
Get that weapon up to speed.
As soon as that light hits green, you go, okay?
[Ethan] Yep, nice and clean.
[Chris] Let the bot battle begin.
Kraken having trouble getting out of the blue square,
and the Canadians have already crossed the border.
Matt Olson's got his opponent pinned,
but Kraken's blade is fully spun up.
Will we see an early flip here?
LUCKY! backs off.
[Kenny] Well, LUCKY!'s more of a puncher
than straight up flipper, Chris.
Think the weapon arm would have gone up
into Kraken's blade there.
[Chris] Meanwhile, Kraken's driving on ice,
still barely out of the blue square.
[Kenny] Uh-oh.
Oh!
[Chris] Flipped on to the upper deck,
and let's see if Kraken can work its way off that thing.
Kraken might be having drive issues,
but that weapon's still humming, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, they are still very dangerous.
One driving error from LUCKY!,
and this fight could turn the other way.
[audience cheering]
Oh!
Lift the arm all the way up, up and back.
[Chris] Looks like that right side drive is down.
Matt Spurk, the NASA engineer
trying to find a solution here.
- Will he? - [Kenny] Yeah.
His son, Ethan, is trying to move
that articulating arm and free the bot.
Left and right. Left and right.
[Kenny] Getting closer.
[Chris] LUCKY!'s just waiting for it.
Yeah.
Another toss and hopefully,
Kraken can start moving back on the surface.
Oh, another right cross to Kraken's chin.
Oh, boy.
[Kenny] Flip after flip.
Drive issues plagued Kraken in their first fight
and here they are again.
[Chris] And you can see the back left tire's
all screwed up.
[Kenny] And credit to Matt Olson
for not giving Kraken any room to breathe here.
Excellent driving.
[Chris] Yeah. Uh-oh. Kraken on its head.
Let's see if it can right itself.
Oh, those are those morning crunches I hate to do.
You know, it hasn't worked at all on my flabby abs.
Oh, the upper left pulverizer drops down.
And another.
[Kenny] Oh, boy.
[Chris] And, Kenny, we haven't seen Kraken try
and spin up that blade in a while.
[Kenny] Yeah, they've got to get that moving again,
even just for self-defense.
[Chris] LUCKY! Just laying so many punches.
[Kenny] You know, he has some jab style shots
and he's got some overhead shots.
That was one of the overhead shots.
[Chris] This one might do. Oh, no.
Kraken says, "Shut your mouth, Rose."
Oh, speaking of shut your mouth,
you might want to do that
with a 100-pound hammer coming at you.
Oh, LUCKY!
pinning Kraken in the corner, giving us front row seats
to the Matt Olson show.
There we go.
[Kenny] He's giving Cirque du Soleil a run for their money.
[Chris] Man, oh, man.
With under a minute to go,
this has all been Team Canada.
[Kenny] You know, we're used to seeing Kraken just so fast,
so durable, and that just hasn't been the case here against LUCKY!.
All right. That's the pin.
You got 10 seconds.
[Chris] Matt Olson's got him pinned again.
Hold him there for 10 seconds.
Then he has to let go, which he does.
And lands another shot.
But the sea monster refuses to tap out, Kenny.
- He's tough. - [Kenny] Yeah.
Matt Olson's keeping his foot on the gas, though.
Seems like every second he spends in the box,
he's getting better.
This dude is the real deal.
[Chris] Well, there's 15 seconds to go.
Let's see if he can even just make it the distance.
Uh-oh, LUCKY!
started to smoke, but there is under 10 seconds to go,
so this will go the distance.
A very one-sided performance,
as you can all say, "O Canada!"
[audience cheering]
Very impressive performance by team LUCKY!
Kraken could never get it out of first gear.
Regardless, this will indeed go to the judges.
Well, Kenny, I don't think that's the way
Matt Spurk drew it up.
[Kenny] No, Kraken's right side locked up
before it could even leave the square.
Second fight in a row Matt's had mobility issues.
[Chris] And with blood in the water, LUCKY! driver,
Matt Olson, went hunting.
That was a master class in control and aggression.
- It was awesome. - [Kenny] Yeah.
Kraken's blade was fully spun up for most of the match.
Matt had to be surgical in picking his windows to attack,
and he did just that.
[Chris] So LUCKY! puts on a show
for the selection committee in this one,
dominant driving, an effective weapon
and most importantly, a fully functional robot.
Faruq, let's hear your best, "O Canada."
The results from the judges are in.
The winner by unanimous decision is...
LUCKY!
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] Hey, Mark.
Hi, Mark, congratulations, you improve to 2-0.
Mark, is it fair to say that this is the best
that LUCKY! has ever looked at BattleBots?
I think so, guys. I think it's a good-looking machine this year.
We're really happy, and I'll tell you,
despite attacking, they we're lacking,
we faced a Kraken and we sent them packing.
[laughing]
Your bot is getting better, your rhymes are getting better.
You know, talk about your driver, Matt Olson,
that was an unbelievable performance there.
[Matt] Yeah, thank you. Much like even seeing, you know,
you got to take everything into account.
We saw their front right drive was a little hurt,
so went after their left and yeah...
- And they're done. - ...got underneath them.
LUCKY! had a little bit more spatch right there,
able to flip them a couple of times,
it just kept them up in the air.
And yeah, we'll check out that motor, but overall,
LUCKY! is probably the best it's ever been.
Hey, Matt, I don't speak Canadianese,
a little more spatch, what did you say?
Little bit more spatch, spatula.
- Oh, spatula, okay, okay. - Spatch, there we go, we're flipping it.
Well, I don't speak... I don't speak BattleBotsese either,
you could tell that after seven seasons on the show.
Guys, congratulations, excellent work, you improve to 2-0.
Thank you.
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] So, a tough start for Matt Spurk, as Kraken falls to 0-2,
and they've got an absolute killer as we just saw,
in Copperhead, coming up next on the schedule.
Another loss in their season may be shipwrecked, tough sledding for them.
As for the Canadians, a 2-0 start
and a winnable matchup with Shreddit Bro on deck,
LUCKY!'s looking strong there, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, took care of business tonight, two wins on the season,
I think one more quality performance
gets them a spot in the round of 32.
And Matt Olson's driving, two thumbs up so far, get them up, Chris.
Coming up next, it's our main event.
That's right, it'll be absolute chaos
as the bull-headed beast from Brazil
takes on the US, UK connection.
Minotaur and Cobalt, that is next here on BattleBots.
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] We are back, and it is time right now
for our main event of the evening.
Is everybody excited for Minotaur and Cobalt?
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] Yeah, you should be, they have combined
for a 3-0 record so far this season,
all three wins via knockout.
And we're talking about two of the most aggressive drivers in the sport.
Yeah, no question about it, two of the best weapons in the sport as well.
[Chris] Yeah, you've got Daniel Freitas for Team Minotaur,
Dave Moulds for Team Cobalt.
As we know, this is a rematch from World Championship IV,
which was a three-minute back and forth brawl,
Minotaur came out on top.
But Kenny, the black and green death machine has made some big-time adjustments
to give them an edge the second time around, they believe.
[Kenny] Yeah, because Minotaur has a much lower center of gravity,
Cobalt naturally tipped back when they went
weapon to weapon in their first meeting.
For the rematch, Cobalt designed forks specifically for Minotaur.
They're sloped in a way to get under the Brazilian's drum
and raise its center of gravity before the weapons meet.
And with Minotaur, you know that Daniel Freitas
will always be on top of you at every turn.
[Kenny] Yeah, Daniel has been on the warpath
since the team's controversial loss to Witch Doctor
in last year's quarterfinals.
But get this, after this Cobalt fight,
they've got a rematch with Witch Doctor.
Captain Marco Meggiolaro needs to keep Daniel's head in the game
for the challenge in front of him
because he cannot afford to make any mistakes against Cobalt.
[Chris] And here's how the two bots stack up.
What do the numbers tell you there, Kenny?
[Kenny] Well, on paper, Minotaur has the bigger, more powerful weapon,
but statistically, Cobalt's disc spinner
might actually be more lethal.
Nearly 90% of their wins have come by KO.
Now, the last fight between these two did go three minutes,
but if I were setting the line,
I'd put the over-under at two minutes.
I think we're going to see a knockout.
- I am super excited, are you? - Oh, my gosh, I can't wait. Let's do it.
- You guys excited for this one? - Me, me, me, me.
Of course, you are. Faruq.
[Faruq] Ladies and gentlemen,
are you ready?
It's time for the main event.
[crowd cheering]
[Faruq] In the red square,
this raging bull isn't played by Robert De Niro,
some goodfellas from Brazil are this story's hero.
Try to talk smack and this bot will go bonkers.
He'll say, "You talking to me?
You better not, little Fockers," it's Minotaur.
[laughing]
[Kenny] Oh, that is tremendous.
[Chris] And here comes the Brazilian bull,
a pair of knockouts this season
over defending champs, Tantrum and then Free Shipping,
a win here would inch them closer
to getting a top-tournament seed, Kenny Florian.
[Kenny] Yeah, and in theory, the higher your seed,
the easier your path to the finals.
They were ranked number 16 in last year's tournament,
and I know getting a higher seed
was a top priority for the team this time around.
[crowd cheering]
In the blue square, if this bot hits you once, he won't need to do it twice.
Call him a one-hit wonder like Vanilla Ice.
At the beginning, you'll be under pressure.
But then it's slice, slice, baby,
you'll end up on a stretcher... it's Cobalt.
[Chris] The man pushing it out is John Mladenik.
He purchased the bot a season ago from Dave Moulds,
the driver, and its original creator.
And as we saw with Gigabyte, Cobalt is also repping Brent Rieker with a cutout,
nice touch.
[Kenny] Yeah, Brent's a good friend of John Mladenik,
who owns both Gigabyte and Cobalt.
A good look at those new forks.
Again, designed to get Minotaur
to ride it like a ski jump right into the weapon.
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] Same three-tooth drum Minotaur has been using
to get off to a 2-0 start tonight, what else, Kenny?
[Kenny] Well, Cobalt has a steel frame,
which is harder to get a good bite on,
than the aluminum a lot of other teams use.
So, Minotaur has sharpened both their forks
and their drum teeth to be like razors.
A seemingly small tweak, but in a high-octane matchup like this,
it's a game of millimeters, not inches.
[crowd cheering]
[robotic voice] Robots, activate.
[Chris] All right, this one has the makings of a classic, folks...
deadly weapons, daredevil drivers
and undefeated seasons on the line.
Can Minotaur continue its stampede?
Or will Cobalt exact some revenge on the blood-thirsty bull.
It is our main event when BattleBots continues.
Brent Rieker, my teammate, we met in 2016, 2017.
[Chris] Another knockout for Team Gigabyte.
Since then, I think he's been my best friend.
Brent was diagnosed with cancer, fortunately survivable,
but he's been through chemo and radiation.
So now he's got to recover, but I talked to him this morning
and he's feeling a lot better.
I made, you know, a life-sized face and we put a shirt on it
and we went and took pictures with a bunch of teams.
He said he was so happy ...he cried.
It's just the most wonderful community.
Listen, dude, we miss you a ton.
Get your ass back here. Feel well, brother.
[John] Everyone here, you know, at BattleBots is wishing him the best.
His opponent's much tougher than anything we're fighting here,
and it's much more important that he wins his fight than we win any fight here.
It's cancer-fighting time.
[Chris] Welcome back to BattleBots,
where two of the most dangerous combat robots
ever built are locked and loaded inside the box.
It is Cobalt versus Minotaur.
Both teams are undefeated and only one can stay that way.
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] Let the bot battle begin.
Both weapons up to full speed.
Here comes Minotaur on the attack.
Oh, nice big shot by Cobalt there.
[Kenny] You don't want to take too many of those from Cobalt...
great start for Team Cobalt.
[Chris] There's that patented gyroscopic driving from Daniel Freitas.
[Kenny] Oh, Chris, we're finding out those forks on Cobalt
are working out really well so far.
Oh, huge shot by Cobalt... and another.
[Chris] Follows it up nicely, Daniel Freitas having trouble
keeping his machine on the ground.
Cobalt, the aggressor so far over near the upper deck,
now he gets away and oh, man, there goes one of those forks.
[Kenny] This fight may come down to durability here, Chris.
[Chris] Right in front of us now,
both those weapons are humming at full speed.
Cobalt leaning on Minotaur, Daniel Freitas pushing back.
[Kenny] It's gonna be way more difficult for Cobalt with just one fork right now.
- Oh, huge shot by Cobalt. - [Chris] What were you saying, Kenny?
[Kenny] Yeah.
Ate my words there. Minotaur though right back on the attack.
[Chris] Oh, man, the strength of each of these bots being on display today.
Little pin job, you can do that for 10 seconds
before you must release.
And there it is.
[Kenny] Cobalt showing excellent control there.
You think Minotaur would win that battle,
but Cobalt showing its versatility here, Chris.
[Chris] How about the shots that Cobalt is delivering?
Do you think Daniel Freitas needs to get a little separation and regroup?
[Kenny] He only knows one way, Chris.
When you challenge a lion, it's gonna show you its teeth.
- Daniel just needs to stay composed. - [Chris] Ninety seconds to go.
[Kenny] Yeah, I think... I think Daniel might be trying
to take care of that other fork
...try to get rid of that first.
[Chris] So far, this match has been driven with championship intensity.
Cobalt missing some front forks but has landed the heavier shots.
Does Minotaur having answered down the stretch?
- [Kenny] Oh. - [Chris] Oh, big shot sends the bots careening backward.
I'm not even sure who won that exchange.
[Kenny] Oh, this has been a battle here.
[Chris] And with under a minute to go,
now the killsaws will get in on the act too.
[Kenny] I think Minotaur has some work to do, Chris.
Cobalt has racked up a ton of points in the aggression and control category.
[Chris] Oh, now we've got some smoke. Oh, who is it coming out of?
It looks like Minotaur, maybe its Cobalt.
[Kenny] Oh, huge shot there by Minotaur... will there be a comeback?
[Chris] Oh, he's got Cobalt on his head, but Cobalt spins back.
[Kenny] And he removed that other fork, Chris,
this is where he can take advantage and he is.
- [Chris] Under 30 to go, Minotaur's smoking. - [Kenny] Oh, my goodness.
- [Chris] Cobalt is on its head. - [Kenny] Are you kidding me?
[Chris] I don't think they can self-right.
- Wow, this might do it. - [Kenny] And its smoking, Minotaur is smoking.
- [referee] Four, three... - [Kenny] The countdown has started.
[Chris laughs]
[Chris] Minotaur not only survives, but wins an epic match.
[crowd cheering]
[Kenny] What a fight.
[Kenny laughs]
[indistinct chatter]
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] What an amazing fight from start to finish.
[Kenny] This was crazy.
Again, another example that anything and everything can happen
inside the BattleBox.
Minotaur getting some serious air miles there.
[Chris] Cobalt, the aggressor from the start getting underneath Minotaur
and delivering some heart-stopping shots.
[Kenny] I tell you what, that fork configuration
was serving them extremely well.
[Chris] We've sung the praises on Daniel Freitas for years now
and with good reason.
Kenny, the dude never panics,
he just absorbs the punishment,
and he kept on coming in this one.
[Kenny] It looked like the Brazilians were going to lose this fight, Chris.
Minotaur just persisted, they had a plan,
they wanted to get rid of those forks first.
It took them a little while, but once they did, here was the shot, boom.
[Chris] The final fork goes flying and in a haze of its own smoke,
Minotaur turns on the aggression, punches the throttle
and grabs the match by the throat,
knocking out Cobalt cold with only seconds remaining,
a legendary comeback.
- [Chris] Marco. Get on over here, Marco. - Okay.
Marco, for... for two minutes it looked like you guys were getting throttled,
thrown all over the place.
And then in the last 40 seconds or so, things changed, how?
Oh, you never give up and never surrender.
They... they had removed the fork,
our other fork was not getting them, but it just had to go.
Keep going, keep going, see if somebody breaks and it broke
and we... I'm on fire, but it... it's worth it.
[crowd cheering]
- [Chris] Daniel, you okay over there, buddy? - I'm exhausted.
- Oh, man. - That was one of the craziest...
What a fight.
That was one of the craziest comebacks we've ever seen here in BattleBots.
What were you thinking for those first couple of minutes, Daniel?
[exhales]
I know. I know, this...this fights...
we... were crazy.
Dave's a great... great driver.
The Cobalt, the most direct... disruptive.
But we beat him, the guys, and we are really happy
with the third victory in this season.
Hey, congratulations, guys. What a remarkable comeback, congratulations.
Thank you.
[crowd cheering]
Wow, Dave Moulds, John Mladenik.
Hey, Dave, you were driving this thing,
and for two minutes you were dominating,
what happened from your vantage point?
It doesn't matter, that's the best loss I've ever had.
[laughing]
I think last time we went against those guys,
we didn't fare quite as well as this time.
I think this time we got a little bit better
and then we found out the bull bleeds so we can kill it next time,
so I'm happy with that.
Hey, John, obviously you have a very special tribute
to one of your best friends out here in BattleBots , Brant Rieker,
who is fighting the good fight against cancer right now.
And what do you think a fight like this would mean to him?
Well...
[crowd cheering]
...he would see that we... we don't give up, right?
You don't give up no matter how tough the opponent is,
he's going to fight just like we are.
So, this... this whole tournament is, like, dedicated to him.
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] Thank you for your kind words,
tell Brent we're thinking of him and we love him.
And guys, thanks for an amazing show.
Thanks guys.
[crowd cheering]
[indistinct chatter]
Kenny, we have an early entrant for Fight of the Year,
I do believe.
Oh, my gosh, Cobalt and Minotaur,
I mean, they put on such a show, what... unbelievable back and forth.
I know that Dave Moulds said, "Listen, that was an amazing fight,
it was great to be a part of."
But for two minutes, he flat out dominated
and then it just twisted at the end.
[Kenny] Listen, they're 1-1,
but if there's such a thing as a great loss, that was it.
Make no mistake, Cobalt is still very much
in the conversation as a title contender.
[Chris] In addition to Minotaur, LUCKY! remained undefeated.
Copperhead was awesome tonight I thought, right?
[Kenny] Oh absolutely, and it feels like
they're flying a little under the radar, 2-0 with two KOs,
both in under 40 seconds, that bite is vicious.
[Chris] But maybe the headliner here is Claw Viper.
Kevin Milczewski's robot improves to 3-0.
Man, is that thing still going fast inside that box, huh?
Nobody can keep up with it, it's unreal.
No, absolutely, that speed is a weapon, no doubt.
- Did you have fun tonight? - I had a blast.
- Did you guys have fun tonight? - [crowd cheering]
[Chris] Of course, you did, that's a silly question.
Yet another one, Rose, you moron.
So, for Faruq, my man, Kenny Florian, I am Chris Rose,
we will see you next time here on BattleBots.