[robotic voice] robots activate.
[crowd cheering]
Yes.
You look different.
Hey, everybody, and welcome
To the final night of the battlebots 2021 world championship.
[crowd cheering]
That's right. Eight teams have emerged
From the most competitive
And destructive year in the sport's history.
Tonight they have the opportunity
To walk away with the most prized possession in all of robot combat,
The giant nut.
[crowd cheering]
I am chris rose, joined as always by ufc legend
And the best robot fighting analyst
Ever to grace a microphone, say hello to kenny florian.
[kenny] thank you, chris, look at the energy in this room.
We know the builders are nervous,
But it's almost like the bots themselves
Can feel it's their last chance to show the world
What they're made of.
[chris] sixty bots began the season,
But after getting dissected
Decapitated, and pretty muc blown to smithereens,
Only eight remain.
And they are just three fights away
From reaching the mountainto
[kenny] and with the shockin exit
Of last season's winners, end game, in the round of 16
It means that at the end of the night,
A brand-new team
Will be welcomed into the hallowed halls of battlebots champions.
[crowd cheering]
I cannot wait anymore,
So let's take a look at our round of eight match-ups.
The story of tonight,
Young builder aren hill
With two bots in the top eight journey
Tantrum and blip.
His original design, 2020 semifinalists tantrum,
Will face the mad man matt maxham,
Who's looking to win a championship
In his first year on the sticks
For team cobalt.
In aren's latest creation, the rookie blip,
Will collide with the bad bo of battlebots,
Jake ewert in hydra.
The title of deadliest flipp on the planet
Hangs in the bounce.
Tonight, you'll be seeing the brazilian bull minotaur.
[crowd cheering]
They will be taking on witch doctor
In a championship-caliber match-up.
The 2019 runners up, andrea and mike gellatly,
Are looking to finally complete a lifelong dream.
While minotaur is on a missi for redemption
After falling short in the 2018 final.
But we kick off championship night
With the highest remaining seed
And possibly the favorite to win it all...
Sawblaze, led by the laser focused jamison go
Standing in his way,
Twenty-year-old rookie capta
That's taken the sport by storm,
College freshman ethan kurt
And his doomsday device, riptide.
You guys ready?
[crowd cheering]
Faruq, take it away.
Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready?
It's robot fighting time.
[crowd cheering]
In the red square from tarzana, california,
Stay out of the water against...
Riptide.
Whoa!
[chris] look at these college kids.
Ethan kurtz there with the glasses and the remote control.
Kenny, riptide has impresse with knockouts of shatter!
And the fifth seed, uppercut in this most season.
That weapon has been brutal
[kenny] absolutely, and it's been that spinner
And the bot's incredibly low center of gravity
That's led to this unbelievable rookie season.
They have four kos in just five career fights.
This bot is scary, chris.
In the blue square from cambridge, mass.
He's got a vertical saw to murder you all,
It's sawblaze!
[sawblaze team cheering]
[chris] what a pair of decisions in this tournament
Against high jinks and then eventually be won.
What is jamison go and team sawblaze thinking tonight?
[kenny] well, jamison believes that ethan kurtz and his team riptide,
That they haven't experience
A whole lot of adversity in the battlebots,
So they want to take away that confidence early.
They need to win the ground game,
Scoop them up and deliver the pain.
There is no top armor on riptide.
People would say, "oh, you beat uppercut,
And uppercut beat sawblaze. This should be easy for you."
No. No, no, no, no, no.
Jamison learns from every single fight,
And he's twice as good as he was in 2020.
As soon as we land our first shot,
The fight is over for him,
But there's a lot of situations
Where jamison doesn't let people get a shot in.
And if you don't get a shot in, you don't beat sawblaze.
Riptide seems like it's come out of nowhere.
I think I'd probably agree.
Our strategy is to keep in close,
Keep that egg-beater weapon from spinning up.
In a perfect world, we get underneath them immediately,
We can reposition them on our forks,
Come down hard on their batteries.
Ko, we always seem to end at top eight,
But this time we have the energy,
We have the spares, we have the personnel to go even further.
I hope we get to show everyone how far we can go.
[robotic voice] robots activate.
[crowd cheering]
Red team, ready.
-Oh. -Just focus on popping them up to even lower.
[robotic voice] blue team, ready.
Slash and burn.
Come on, bring them rookies!
[chris] the scrappy freshman
The determined veteran.
A trip to the semifinals is on the line.
[crowd cheering]
Let the bot battle begin.
-Oh, oh, riptide is-- -[kevin] oh!.
[chris] taking a serious ja from sawblaze,
That's what jamison go wanted.
He wanted to test the rookie early, kenny.
[kenny] he still has to be careful going into that weapon,
Even from that position,
But this is a great start, chris,
Able to get underneath
If he can attack from the backside,
This is a great thing to ram that weapon right into the wall.
[chris] and riptide gets flipped back over.
Oh, nice shot there with the weapon.
Uh-oh! Sawblaze has now got riptide
Pinned against the rails.
Oh, the hammer saw starts working, too.
[kenny] yeah, that's what he wanted, he wanted to atta from above.
He believes they are vulnerable.
Oh!
Amazing. Got him again.
Oh, and riptide is back and it's hit for the second time on its back
[kevin] this is where sawbla cannot let up.
[chris] riptide is on its side.
Ethan turns his body stranded.
It's tryin' to spin its weapon,
But I'm not sure it can break free.
-Get us off! -Get us off!
[kenny] oh, my goodness,
A bad break for team riptide
That bot is not stuck, it is tipped up on its side
And unless they can rock it back over, chris,
They are gonna get counted out here.
And the rookie is in serious trouble.
[referee] ten, nine...
[chris] after a stellar debut season
Ethan kurtz is right into a bull's eye here in the quarter final.
And literally.
[indistinct shouting]
[chris] team sawblaze break through to the semi's
For the first time in its history.
Well kenny, jamison go set the tone
From the very beginning.
-Wow! -[chris] yeah, he really did, got right underneath
And started off with a huge hit,
And this was telling...
Those slope front forks on sawblaze,
Able to deflect that powerfu energy from riptide's weapon
Didn't bode well for ethan kurtz.
Jamison waited until he had exactly the angle he wanted
Before dropping the hammer saw.
Didn't wanna risk making contact
With that dangerous egg beater drum.
No doubt great patience by the veteran.
And how about the durabilit of sawblaze?
Playing with fire here,
Going head to head with riptide.
Lot of teams have come out on the wrong side of that exchange
But ultimately, that was th shot that did riptide.
The rookie trapped on its side,
Couldn't get the momentum it needed to right itself,
And that was all she wrote.
Sawblaze! Moving on.
[crowd cheering]
[chris] jamison go!
For the first time ever...
You are going to the semifinals.
-Yeah! -Congratulations.
-[indistinct] more. -Whoo!
Jamison, you're smiling and laughing,
What's going on, brother?
We broke through,
I mean, this is a first for us.
This is new heights for team sawblaze
So we are incredibly excited for this opportunity
And we're going to take it all the way. You better believe it.
Great job, jamison. Congratulations.
-Thank you. -See you in the semis.
-Yes! -Whoa!
[chris] so, jamison go continues his dominant tournament run
And sawblaze inches one ste closer to the giant nut.
They are scheduled for a dat
With the winner of minotaur versus witch doctor.
What a semifinals that's gonna be either way.
And major props to ethan kurtz and riptide,
Who are leading the charge
Of an incredible youth movement
Taking shape in robot combat
The sport is in very good hands.
Up next,
The most powerful weapon in tonight's field
Meets what may be the hardest bot to kill,
Cobalt faces tantrum for a berth in the semifinal
When the battlebots world championship tournament continues.
[chris] welcome back to the battlebots world championship tournament,
Where tonight, we will see the quarterfinal
The semifinals and the championship match
Capped off by the presentati of the giant nut.
Sawblaze just punched its ticket to the semis.
Now cobalt and tantrum will get their chance.
In fact, there you see
Both teams already inside the battle box
Getting their machines ready for war.
Kenny, the last time we saw the 11 seed tantrum inside that box,
It was back and forth,
Shot for shot with a six seed rotator.
It ended with a ko by tantrum
With one second to go.
Whoa!
So this team is ready to roll.
However, they're also compos
Because they were in this exact position a year ago.
[kenny] they were, but that was with rising sta aren hill behind the wheel.
Aren, of course, is now piloting blip...
Which we'll see after this match-up.
But this new leadership tea
And that includes driver dillon carey,
The big guy with the beard,
Has been prepared for every challenge
They've faced so far.
[chris] and if you talk to the co-captains,
Alex grant and ginger schmid
They both admit
They are facing the nasties weapon in the entire field,
The 14th seed cobalt.
And it's interesting because
When you talk to a lot of young kids that are in this tournament,
They're like, "yeah, winning the giant nut would be great."
If you talk to a couple of older people,
Like, brent rieker and the driver matt maxham,
They call this the holy grai
They're super excited to be here.
[kenny] yeah, absolutely. They've been doing this for so long.
This is the furthest they'v ever been here at battlebots
So, they can just taste it,
That they want to get to the giant nut
And they realize they have a big task ahead of them here
Against tantrum,
But they also believe
They have the most dangerous weapon in the competition.
[chris] the drivers are ready, the box is loaded.
Let's get ready for the figh
[crowd cheering]
[robotic voice] red team, ready.
[chris] there's driver matt maxham,
Who's been an absolute wild man on the sticks this season,
How does his team move on here, kenny?
[kenny] well, cobalt feels like
They really only need one sh to deliver a knockout,
But first they have to get under tantrum and to do that
They're going to rely on those long front fork attachments.
We saw those work well for them in their last fight,
Popping up whiplash,
Win the ground game against tantrum,
Win the fight.
[robotic voice] blue team, ready.
[chris] and for team tantrum
What are you looking for, kenny?
[kenny] well, this will be their first match-up
Against a vertical spinner this season,
And cobalt is maybe the most lethal one
We've seen all year.
This will be a big test for driver dillon carey
To avoid taking a hit head o
You got this, dillon.
[crowd cheering]
fight! Fight! Fight!
[chris] there's nothing like the energy on championship night,
Which one of these two squad
Will be moving on to the semifinals?
[kenny] let the bot battle begin.
Tantrum trying to drive arou and find an angle.
[kenny] but cobalt tracking it, chris,
Keeping that killer weapon pointed forward.
[chris] here comes cobalt.
Oh-ho, little gyro there.
All right, tantrum with the front [indistinct]
Gets cobalt right in the corner. Good job.
Now working it next to the upper deck.
[kenny] tantrum floating with the... With cobalt here
Playing a dangerous game, but now chewing away
At those front forks, chris
[chris] and punching disc ab to deliver shots
And they retract backward and out of harm's way.
Great work so far by dillon carey
The outstanding young driver of team tantrum.
[kenny] using tantrum's spee very effectively
And winning the ground battl so far.
[chris] good call, kenny.
Tantrum able to get underneath once again.
[kenny] we know cobalt has one shot knockout power, though, chris.
Tantrum has to keep the pressure on here.
One mistake, and this fight could be over in a hurry.
[chris] well, cobalt trying to keep
That gyroscopic motion under control,
Doesn't want to give tantru any opening.
Matt maxham, an experienced driver,
But not on this robot
Until this tournament and no tantrum is under cobalt.
Tantrum has got cobalt in the corner.
Oh, really grinding!
Oh, that's it.
What a remarkable shot by tantrum,
Which for the second straight year,
Is headed to the semifinals
What a job by dillon carey.
It was all about control.
It was all about you wanting the battlebots.
And he just got a finish.
My goodness. Unbelievable.
Kenny, that was a flawlessl
Executed strategy by team tantrum.
[kenny] just phenomenal, used their bot speed
To keep cobalt off balance, got underneath,
And chipped away at those front forks piece by piece.
And once those were bent backwards,
Cobalt really didn't have much of a shot
At feeding tantrum into its weapon.
You know, we've seen cobalt eviscerate bots this season
But it couldn't land a single shot tonight.
I mean, you can't take one shot.
That's the thing. They have the kind of weapon
All they need is one shot.
Tantrum was all over him. They got him in that corner
Exactly where they needed to do.
Got cobalt out as quickly as they could.
The longer cobalt's in there
The more chance you have to be knocked out.
[chris] and check out this view of that final shot
[laughs] gotcha!
[crowd cheering]
Tantrum!
Yeah! Tantrum!
[chris] alex and ginger...
-Hey, ginger? -Wow!
Congratulations, team tantrum.
Ginger, you look shocked, are you okay over there?
I think I'll need a few minutes to recover.
Why are you so surprised?
I mean, cobalt has one of the nastiest weapons in the whole tournament,
I think for us, this is a first vertical we faced all season.
There are some unknowns,
And so I was personally a little anxious going in
'cause we know they were going to put up a good fight.
But oh, my gosh.
-Wow! -Yeah.
Guys, you are only half of the equation...
For this pit crew.
Now you have to put on your cheerleaders outfits
In order to root on aren hill and blip.
Can you believe that you are one win away
From facing one another, alex, in the semifinals?
I can believe it, but it's still just a dream.
And now that we're here, it feels amazing
And we're really excited for blip to join us there.
-Yeah, we're looking forward to a family reunion. -Yeah.
Guys, congratulations.
-You're off to the semifinals... -Thank you.
...For a second straight season.
-Thank you. -Thank you.
[chris] so after an incredib driving match,
We have to send off matt maxham and team cobalt
They left a trail of destruction
In their wake this season,
And the fans are going to be hungry for more next time around.
But coming up, we'll find ou if that family reunion
Ginger just mentioned is actually gonna happen.
As the golden boy of robot combat, aren hill,
Collides with the bad boy of battlebots, jake ewert.
Two flippers will enter,
But only one will survive.
The race for the giant nut continues...
Next.
[theme music playing]
[chris] we continue on with the quarterfinals here on battlebots.
And earlier tonight, you saw the 11th seed,
Tantrum, advance to the semifinals.
And right now we've got a match-up
Featuring tantrum's former captain,
Aren hill, as his new flywheel flipper blip,
Faces the bad boy of battlebots,
Jake ewert and his hydrauli flipper, hydra.
There you see the teams maki their final preparations,
This is gonna be a fun one.
And, kenny, because of the bots and the builders
This might be one of the mos anticipated fights of the tournament.
[kenny] yeah, well, aren hill's kind of been the golden boy this season,
Having both of his teams undefeated to this point.
Jake ewert, on the other han
Has been playing the spoile in this tournament,
Which is a role, I think, he kind of loves.
Now, blip's flywheel system
Allows it to reset quickly and flip like a machine gun
Whereas hydra's hydraulic pump takes longer to rerack
But is more battle tested.
Either way, we're about to see a fight
Between two of the most powerful flippers
In all of robot combat.
[chris] not only is this gon decide the third spot in the semifinals,
It may also determine the future of flipper technology in this sport.
The bots are locked,
Loaded and ready for launch
Green light's go, right? Green light's go.
[robotic voice] red team, ready.
[chris] there is jake ewert
Made his run to the quarterfinals
After being dealt the 31st seed and needing to win
A play-in match.
How does jake look in those glass slippers, kenny?
Don't look so nervous, aren.
[kenny] well, calling jake, cinderella doesn't feel quite right.
And it's not just the backwards hat and chin strap beard,
But he takes that tongue on hydra
Is going to be the difference here.
In a flip off, low man wins.
That tongue is the longest one jake has,
And he thinks it'll allow hi
To get under blip before blip gets under him.
[robotic voice] blue team, ready.
[chris] and for aren hill, a win here would mean, a family reunion
With his former team tantrum in the semis.
So, what's he have to do to take down hydra, kenny?
[kenny] he needs to be aggressive,
Which is usually a losing strategy against hydra.
Blip can survive getting flipped multiple times,
The whyachi bot, I'm not so sure.
Attack and try to damage the tongue on hydra,
We were just talking about,
And we could see aren in the semis.
[crowd cheering] fight! Fight! Fight!
[kenny] let the bot battle begin.
[chris] blip heads to the center of the box hunting for an angle.
Hydra trying to get under blip...
Oh, knocks it off the glass,
Blip on its head.
-[chris] oh. -[kenny] oh.
Again, it landed on the upper deck.
How much damage did that do?
Blip trying to flip back right side up.
[kenny] thankfully, they do have some sharp-mounted armo
They are durable, but this is not a good start
[chris] well, blip flopping like a fish out of water,
Hydra trying to catch him giving it another pop.
Can aren hill find a way to self right?
-[kenny] well... -Yes, baby.
-I know, he's gonna get off. -[chris] oh, boy.
Oh, no. Now, blip is just trying to flip itself up
And it tumbles there. Can it get off?
Ooh, it's got those piano ke working up right on top of that.
If we'd just cut their toenails before the match.
[kenny] chris, they do have magnets on the underside of the bot.
They may be stuck to the rai
[chris] they're getting counted out
They're getting counted out
And jake ewert is on his wa
To the semifinals.
The line is right through the railing.
Whoo!
[chris] heartbreak for team blip.
Well, there is that gene simmons
Tongue coming in handy.
[kenny] yeah, that flipper tongue was abl to get underneath
And they just never let up.
And this is exactly what jake wanted to do.
He said if he'd just get that initial flip,
He can continually get underneath them.
[chris] blip spent most of the fight trying to flip itself right side up
After being inverted
And eventually, ended up on the upper deck, kenny.
[kenny] yeah. And I think we all expected blip to just drive right off,
But check this out.
You can see that back left wheel had been damaged.
That, plus the magnets blip
Uses to keep it grounded
Is what left them stuck on that metal railing
Of the upper deck.
Hydra, moving on.
-I wanted bigger flips. -Yeah. That was adorable. [indistinct chatter]
[chris] jake ewert...
Hydra is in the semifinals.
[crowd cheering]
The villain's gotta make it eventually, right?
No need to shrug your shoulders.
-Yeah. -Aren't you proud
Of what you have accomplished
As the 31st seed so far?
I never see myself as the 31st seed, you know that.
[chris] you knocked out
Aren hill's bot, a rookie bot in blip.
Up next is aren hill's old bot in tantrum.
I would really hate to knock out both their teams, right.
[chris laughs]
Well, listen, you're two wins away
From winning the whole thing.
-Congratulations. -Thank you, guys.
[crowd cheering]
[chris] okay, so hydra officially moving on to face tantrum
In the semifinals,
And it pretty much goes without saying
But a fantastic season from aren hill and blip.
I'm sure, he'll be eager to download team tantrum
On everything he just learne
Facing the whyachi work hors
But up next, the championshi caliber match-up
To close out the quarterfinals.
2018 runner up, minoataur,
Tries to bull rush the 2019 runner up, witch doctor.
You do not wanna miss this one.
Stay tuned.
[theme music playing]
We are back with the last of our quarterfinals here on battlebots,
And it is a tasty one.
The 16 v 24 matchup,
The pride of brazil, minotau
Facing the voodoo children, witch doctor.
Oh, yeah, crowd, I know you're pumped up for this one.
And so are we.
We've actually seen this fight before.
It was in 2018 and mike gellatly, the outstanding driver
Of witch doctor said, "yeah, we got our asses handed to us"
'cause they just took it ove
And they nailed our wheels
And we were pretty much done.
He has a bit more confidence this time around
[kenny] that's right. They got their wheels, but more importantly said,
"we just weren't able to take that kind of damage,"
And we saw the kind of turnaround they had in 2019,
When witch doctor went all the way to the finals.
Well, they're even better than the 2019 season.
I would say minotaur is better.
-You can go ask end game... -Yeah.
...Which, in the last round
Just got dismantled by daniel freitas,
Who is a driver possessed these days.
[kenny] yeah, he really is.
He's been one of the best drivers literally in the wor
For a long time.
He established that,
Yet again, against end game
End game was the world champion.
And not only did they beat them,
They decimated. They dominated.
So, they're coming in here with a lot of momentum.
They're very confident.
I think we're gonna see some serious energy.
Ready to find the last of our four semi-finalists?
Stop teasing me. Let's go.
Let's do it, faruq.
In the red square,
This doctor is a psp,
Which means primary scare physician.
It wants you in the mortuary,
That's its one and only mission.
It's a hippocratic hypocrite,
Your symptoms won't get better,
The only er you're going to is from really dead
To more deader.
It's witch doctor!
[chris] the 2019 runner up,
One of the most popular robots in battlebots' history,
They've been soaking it up,
Loving life
They're ready to get it.
[kevin] yeah, I'd be soakin
It all in, too, if I were facing daniel freitas.
He's an animal,
And that's why if I were mike gellatly,
I'd act like a matador here
Wait for daniel to charge,
Evade that and then strike.
Against the raging bull,
Why not be a bullfighter?
[faruq] in the blue square,
Minotaur can beat you in a minute,
Or he can prolong your fall,
Give you a mini tour of the battle floor
Before he slams you into the wall.
Ask all the men he tore
With those spinning forks if they felt like fools
When his mini horns hit a gore
Like the running of the bulls,
It's minotaur!
[chris] here comes minotaur
Led by the fiercest driver on planet earth,
That man, daniel freitas.
Of course, daniel lost his mother and his grandmother
Just before the competition began.
What an incredible story it would be
If team minotaur can go all the way tonight.
[kenny] absolutely. And I think they have a rea shot to do it.
That huge 55-pound drum matches up so well
With smaller vertical spinners like witch doctor.
And after that win over end game,
They really kind of do feel
Like a team of destiny.
This is the second time we've ever fought minotaur
And they were actually an inspiration for a lot
Of the changes we made to witch doctor.
Uh, so we owe a lot to that match
And hopefully we can implement those changes and come out ahead this time.
Their frame is all aluminum.
They don't really have any armor.
And daniel is such a great driver,
That he's not getting, used to getting hit anywhere other than the weapon.
So he wants it to be weapon on weapon.
But we're gonna try to make it a driving match,
So we can hit anywhere other than their weapon,
And hopefully, it only takes a few blows to end the match.
I think minotaur can handle
The hits better than witch doctor.
We really want to go for it
And be very aggressive
And try to get on their side,
You know, trying to rip their...
Their... Their... Wheels away just like we did before.
Daniel, he's very focused on this fight.
One single mistake, one small mistake,
We're done, you know.
That's why he's so focused
And so concentrating.
We trust him so much.
[robotic voice] robots activate.
[crowd cheering]
[chris] and for a match-up of this caliber,
You know, we have to hear from the bot whisperer pete abrahamson.
Pete, what do you got?
[peter] I want you guys to recognize the forks
They actually have in the front of minotaur right now.
Those inch and a half wide ar454,
That's not normal for them
To actually run a fork of that caliber, that size,
They're usually much smaller
They're believing that's gonna be able to get them
Under those wedges
In the front of witch docto out there.
We'll see.
The other thing to pay really close attention to,
And if you saw in end game's fight
Is watch daniel be able to drive on one wheel
Across the arena, if he gets picked up.
[chris] we've seen him do that before.
These are two of the best drivers in the sport.
And in order for these former runners up
To complete their journey,
They're gonna have to go through each other.
The rockstars from rio,
The shamans from south beach
Who is gonna claim that last spot
In the semifinals?
Let the bot battle begin.
Right off the post!
...Takes a serious shot.
Oh, oh.
There's that gyroscopic run that pete was talking about
What a huge hit!
Big come back shot there by minotaur.
[indistinct commentary]
[kenny] we saw the chain come off, I believe that's off the witch doctor, chris
[chris] yeah, that blade is still running up.
I'm not sure the rest of the bot is.
Uh-oh. Minotaur has pinned witch doctor into the corner
Let's see. Oh, it looks a little wobbly.
Can they keep going?
He takes another shot.
These are massive hits.
Minotaur has so much confidence in that drum.
But, kenny, how about the durability of witch doctor, it's still working.
[kenny] absolutely. They are still...
Going strong, but they're
Missing that front wedge on the left side.
[indistinct] another huge shot by minotaur,
Who's stuck on behind the screws.
This is the time for mike gellatly to get in there.
There he goes. He topped it up on the screw
Do we have another shot? We do. Minotaur on the upper deck..
-[kenny] wow. -[chris] ...Trying to find its way out.
Daniel freitas, dazed and confused.
Can he get out of here?
[kenny] this is a huge opportunity for witch doctor
Oh, oh. Oh!
They drove off.
How about minotaur is missing a tire.
This is ridiculous.
[chris] and witch doctor loo like it's got under the rail
Time out, minotaur. Time out.
Time out. Time out.
[chris] what?
The refs have stopped this match.
Kenny, tackle this [indistinct] please.
[kenny] well, we're only 90 seconds in,
So I expect they're going t try and unstick witch doctor here,
But if they can't, this fight will be going to the judges.
We're stuck on the arena,
We're gonna unstick
And restart this fight.
[chris] all right, so the safety crew's
Headed into the box to investigate
And while they sort all of this out,
We're going to take a quick break.
The high stakes quarterfinal action will continue...
Next!
[theme music playing]
[chris] welcome back to the final night of the 2021
Battle bots world championsh tournament.
Before the break, we saw witch doctor get jammed
Into the arena railing
And minotaur lose one of its wheels.
And with about 90 seconds remaining,
A time out was called.
Perhaps, a little quick for the brazilian's liking.
They thought they should have been allowed to engage
But that's all at the ref's discretion.
The crew box... Entered the box
And deemed it safe to unstick witch doctor.
They were successful
And per the rule book,
This heavyweight death matc
Is about to recommence.
[crowd cheering]
All right, so a spot in the semifinals
Is still on the line
And at the sound of the bell
It's go time.
We have a restart.
Let's see how both bots are moving.
Minotaur kind of going in circles,
Mike gellatly of team witch doctor's gonna see
If his opponent can actually move it all.
[kenny] minotaur having serious mobility issues
On just that one wheel, chri
Kind of just crab walking no
They could be in danger
Of getting counted out here
-This is under control. -But it's not working.
Yeah, we're going for it, they are avoiding.
[chris] mike gellatly still choosing to hang back here.
Are they gonna count them out or not?
[chris] waiting.
-And waiting. -[carlos] they got control?
[chris] and junior, the captain,
Imploring to the official.
"hey, we're actually doing something,
They've gotta be doing something."
Are they going to count them out?
[chris] forty-five to go.
Daniel freitas gyroing minotaur,
But can't deliver it to witch doctor.
-Come on. -Don't engage, don't engage.
[kenny] we've got a standoff here, chris.
Witch doctor clearly thinks
Minotaur should be counted out.
Junior just sues up arguing otherwise.
[chris] and witch doctor continues to do nothing,
I wonder how that will play the eye of the judges, kenny
[kenny] yeah, that's right. I mean, they're not being aggressive here.
Witch doctor not going for the kill
And they could attack to fight.
We've got control, we've got control.
We've have done this so many times.
[chris] and now, the time I winding down here.
This is gonna do it.
-[kenny] this could cost the -[chris] one last shot.
And wow!
[crows cheering]
What the hell, man?
[chris] after a timeout and unsticking of witch doctor,
A wild turn of events of the second half of this figh
Tensions are running high.
Team minotaur still pleading its case to the referee.
They almost like gyroed onto us.
[daniel speaking]
All right, you still have it, guys.
[screams]
[chris] gotta love it. Daniel freitas fired up,
But the pressure now shifts to the judges,
Who will deliver a decision
Based on an 11-point scoring system.
Five points can be awarded in the damage category,
Three a piece for aggressio and control.
They know they lost...
[chris] well, there's a lot to digest here
And the shame of it is,
The first half of this figh was an instant
Battlebots classic, kenny.
[kenny] it was unbelievable
Huge hits by both teams
Going weapon to weapon,
Both robots flying around the battlebox
And absorbing punishment. Awesome!
[chris] how about this shot by minotaur,
Sending witch doctor into the air, that's awesome
But then minotaur got into some trouble.
[kenny] yeah, it was just one mistake by minotaur here
Gyroing backwards
Into the screws of the upper deck.
Witch doctor capitalized,
And then the wheel of minota came off.
[chris] and really, that's when the wheels came off this match.
A timeout was called to unstick
Witch doctor, which had jammed itself
Into the railing of the upper deck
And after a reset,
We had a standoff on our hands.
[kenny] that's right, witch doctor made the choic
Not to engage with the wounded minotaur.
They obviously felt the brazilian should have been counted out
For a lack of controlled movement.
[chris] will that choice come back to haunt them here
[kenny] listen, this is a very tough decisio for the judges.
I think witch doctor was playing with fire
By hanging back like they di
That could really hurt them in the aggression category.
But remember, damage is stil
The most heavily weighted on the cards.
Minotaur did lose that wheel.
Witch doctor took some punishment as well.
Man, what a crazy fight.
[chris] here's faruq with a big time decision.
The results from the judges are in.
[crowd cheering]
The winner
By unanimous decision is...
Witch doctor!
[crowd cheering]
[indistinct mumbling] it's not a joke.
Ah... Hey...
[chris] mike and andrea, congratulations.
Andrea, the second half of that fight,
Minotaur was spinning around
And you would not go in and hit them, why?
[man in crowd] chicken!
This is battlebots, it's all about damage.
We had shown aggression.
Our robot was working perfectly.
Why risk a hit
When we knew, not only were they not moving,
But they were missing a wheel, there was no chance
They were to regain control.
There was a minute and a half left in the match,
So we expected to count down way, way earlier.
I don't know why it didn't start.
But I'm not surprised with the result considering.
Well, once it didn't start
And I'm talking about the countdown here,
Why didn't you go back in and deliver one extra shot
Just to show the judges,
"hey, we're aggressive
And this is what we wanna do"?
I mean, we went in at the end for another shot,
Uh, you know, like andrea said,
They had no wheel on one side
And they were just gyroing around uncontrollably.
So we kept, we kept thinking
That they were gonna get counted out.
Um, so I didn't want to go in for another hit and be,
You know, a late hit or something like that.
Well, congratulations.
Jamison go and sawblaze awaits you.
Great fight. It was a ton of fun, thank you.
Thanks.
[indistinct chatter]
[chris] hi, junior.
Hey, how are you guys doing?
How are you doing?
I mean, I'm...
Kind of like upset of the decisions.
We do hold a lot of respect for the guys
On witch doctor and all, all the judges,
But...
I mean...
The whole crowd just...
We saw different things here, you know.
-The screws-- -[carlos] yeah. It's all good.
-[indistinct] -yeah, it's all good. All good, all good.
-Yeah. You know... I have nothing much to be... -The judge are a joke.
-...To be saying... Right now. -[bleep]
Congratulations, guys.
Wish you guys the best of luck in the quarterfinals.
But yeah, nothing much to be saying right now.
To be said right now. I'm sorry, guys.
Junior, thank you so much to you and your entire team.
Classy. Thank you.
[crowd cheering]
I don't really like to see things going that way, you know.
[chris] well, that's not how you want to see any fight decided,
But it's the name of the gam
You never want to leave it in the hands of the judges.
...This decision.
You know, you know, you know.
[chris] daniel freitas getting in
A final few words there,
But controversy or not,
The semifinal match-ups are now set
And witch doctor's gonna move on to face sawblaze.
The gellatlys will have tim
To shake off the nerves from this match, though,
Because up next,
Tantrum will be looking for revenge
As they take on hydra,
Who knocked out their pit partner, blip,
Earlier tonight.
If this round was any indicator,
Buckle up for the semis, folks.
[theme music playing]
[crowd cheering]
[chris] we are back on battlebots.
Kenny florian, it is hard to believe,
But we are just three fights away
From crowning a brand-new champion.
We kicked off the tournamen
With 34 of the world's deadliest combat robots,
And we are now down to our final four teams.
One of them will be the nex
To join the ranks of legends
Like bite force and tombstone,
And hoist a trophy revered in engineering circles
Around the world,
The giant nut.
And as you can hear
From this sold out crowd here in las vegas,
There are few nights in spor
That feel as big as this one
It is time for our first finalist
To reveal themselves.
Will it be the 31st seed,
Jake ewert in hydra?
Or the 11th seed tantrum,
Led by the rookie co-captain
Ginger schmidt and alex gran
Hydra just beat tantrum's pit partner blip.
How do these two match up, kenny?
[kenny] well, while team bli was working out the kinks
On the flywheel flipper,
Guess who was their training partner?
Yeah, tantrum was flipped
Maybe 50 times this offseaso
So, if there's one weapon it can take a hit from,
It's a flipper.
Hydra is slippery, though,
And jake ewert is incredibly patient.
If tantrum makes any mistakes here,
He will capitalize.
A berth in the championship is at stake,
-It's hydra against tantrum. -Whoo-hoo.
Let's get it going with faruq.
[faruq] in the red square,
Earlier he flipped blip so hard,
His little heart shut down.
Now he'll send blip's bro to a family reunion,
Six feet underground.
Started 31st,
Now, he's the dirty worse.
Jake ewert's got no chill,
He just won't stop till he kills
Both of aren's bots
And then he's the king of the hill.
It's hydra!
[chris] there he is, 32-year-old jake ewert,
Pushing out his mechanical monster.
What does he need to do to eliminate tantrum here, kenny?
[kenny] you know, when you're that powerful,
You don't need to chase,
You can wait for the enemy to come to you.
And that's what jake wants to do here.
He needs to chill, stay patient,
Make sure he keeps that nose pointed
Right at tantrum at all time
He cannot let them get around to their sides.
[faruq] in the blue square,
Aren's new bot bit the dust,
But his squad's got the trump card.
Ginger and alex will make jake's bot break
And toss it right in the junkyard.
Revenge is a dish best served through clenched fist
And this team's ready to pound,
They're not afraid of the son of the son of whyachi,
And tonight the sun goes down.
It's tantrum!
[chris] tantrum, a perfect 5-0
This season
Including three amazing performances
In the postseason.
You can see alex and ginger
Flanking either side of tantrum.
This bot has just been great to watch,
His second year in a row.
[kenny] yeah, with everythin that could go wrong
Inside the battlebox,
It's just amazing
That these guys have been able to repeat
What they did last season.
You can see they've got their minibot,
Nugget in tow for this match
The other thing to watch for
Their driver, dillon carey has been on fir
They are going to attempt to probably get underneath me,
But if they don't, they are gonna go flying.
The weapon really doesn't scare me unless they get to the side of me.
I can bring my nose in,
Swipe left or swipe right,
And flip right on the force,
And I don't even need to get into the bot body anymore.
Once I beat tantrum, I'm into the finals
And then maybe I'll celebrate, I don't know yet.
They love to sit there
And wait for people to drive on to them,
But we're not falling for that.
We're gonna drive in circles around hydra,
Like sharks circling a predator,
And when they hit the floor
And when they get stuck and they hesitate,
Which they always do,
Dillon, our driver is gonna ram into them
And take advantage of that opportunity.
We really want to hit their drivetrain.
Let's go, tantrum.
[chris] jake ewert wants to join his dad
As winners of the giant nut
Tantrum's season ended in the semis a year ago.
Can they move one step furth
This time around?
[crowd cheering] fight! Fight! Fight! Fight...
[chris] let the bot battle begin.
And oh, tantrum gets one of its
Forks stuck in a killsaw slot.
Hydra looking to capitalize here...
Getting under tantrum and up ending it with a flipper.
Nice move there.
[kenny] that's an unforced error there
By dillon carey, chris.
He has to be careful not to give hydra
Those types of openings.
[chris] big swing and a miss there by hydra.
Jake ewert resets
Moving very deliberately her
Tracking the speedy tantrum as it drives in circles,
Looking for an angle.
[kenny] hydra has to be so careful
To not allow tantrum to attack from the back,
That's where their drive train is.
Tantrum believes that's a weak point on hydra
You can feel the tension building as these teams battle for position.
Oh, nice flip from hydra.
Tantrum flew a little too close to the sun right there.
[kenny] but tantrum got unde hydra skirt there too, chris
Might have done a little damage.
-Whoa! -[chris] whoa, right there!
-[kenny] oh, another! -[chris] and right in front of jake ewert,
So he can see his dirty wor by doing this.
[kenny] oh!
[chris] an impressive start by hydra
Connecting at a high percentage of these flips,
And, you know, the crowd is loving it.
Jake ewert seems locked in,
But I can tell you this, kenny,
Tantrum looks unfazed.
It just keeps on coming.
[kenny] well, we know, how well built this bot is, chris.
Jake ewert can't let up here
And there you go tantrum,
Able to get underneath hydra
But hydra with a quick counter shot.
[kenny] jake hesitant to go in for that second follow up shot.
Whoa!
Oh, boy, that is the bigges flip we've seen so far.
How many more of these shot can tantrum take?
[kenny] oh, there goes tantr winning the ground game right there,
-Putting hydra in a corner, right in front of us. -[chris] oh! Oh!
They're wondering why that pulverizer is not dropping down.
That is the one that team hydra is in charge of.
[kenny] that's correct, and tantrum not able to get
That vertical spinner to make contact with hydra
That reach on those flippers
Giving it good distance.
They're protecting themselve and another good flip from hydra.
[chris] under a minute to go and here it comes.
Tantrum targeting hydra's weapon,
Which is slow to reset, kenny.
[kenny] yeah, look at this tantrum
Able to deliver some clean shots.
[indistinct shouting]
[chris] this is where tantru can do some serious damage
To the weapon of hydra.
Best shot of the fight for tantrum.
[chris] here's tantrum up to there on the driver's deck.
[kenny] can they do damage to their weapon?
Another massive flip by hydra.
Good work.
[chris] nice recovery, tantrum needs to make another push here.
Under 30 to go.
Uh-oh, looks like
Hydra not able to get that nose all the way down.
[indistinct commentary]
[chris] alex and ginger's cr ain't done yet.
Tantrum chewing up that fron of the flipper on hydra.
Closing in on 10 seconds to go in this semi final,
And it looks like tantrum is smoking a little bit.
Whoa!
What a finishing shot by hydra.
Whoo!
[chris] is it enough to put them into
The championship round
Or will tantrum move on?
A fantastic fight that goes to the distance
And now, it's in the hands
Of the judges.
Kenny, nice patience shown by both teams
To start this match,
But eventually jake ewert found a way
To impose his will.
[kenny] that's right, hydra able to get
Underneath tantrum repeatedl
Land shots with that flippe
And keep it off balance.
[chris] but tantrum kept on coming
And eventually found an opening
When hydra's flipper was slow to reset.
[kenny] yeah, tantrum is so tough,
Stuck in the fight
And managed to do some damag
To hydra's weapon with these surgical shots,
And that should play well with the judges.
But man, the story of this fight,
Hydra able to control the action
With flip after flip.
[chris] and how about this for a finishing shot,
Some serious air time at the closing bell.
Was it enough to send jake ewert to the finals?
Here's faruq with the decision.
The results from the judges are in.
We have a split decision.
Oh, my heart.
Judge jason scored the battle
For... Tantrum.
Judge lisa scored the battle
For hydra.
Judge derek scored the battle for the winner..
[crowd cheering]
...Tantrum!
Check out the boos.
[chris] alex and ginger,
Congratulations, you are off to the final.
Thank you so much. Thank you so much.
Ginger, you seem shocked, are you?
I mean, that was a back and forth fight.
I really, honestly had no idea who it would go to.
I think it could have gone either way.
Split decision was the right choice.
And I am so grateful and we are so shocked
-And amazed. -That was an amazing fight.
-Yes. -I just wanna say congratulations, jake.
-That was, that was the fight of our life. -Scary.
You threw a tantrum.
-You threw a tantrum. -I'm gonna be. It's gonna be that's for sure.
Yeah, a multiple times.
[chris] all right. Well, we're gonna let you start prepping for your next fight
Congratulations, you guys are off to the title.
-Thank you, chris. Thank you, kenny. -Thank you.
And congratulations, jake, that was awesome.
They get it wrong sometimes, I guess. That's okay.
Where in your opinion, did they get it wrong?
I mean, just driving circles isn't aggression.
I'm pointing on 'em, I mean, it's, it's what it is.
I mean, yeah, they hit my nose.
But that's all, you know, a blade of armor, really.
So, it's supposed to get hit.
They never took the hit on the side that they had a chance to.
So, the weapon didn't work the way it was supposed to
'cause it didn't hit when it was on the side.
So, I thought I flipped them enough to do enough damage,
But I guess not, so.
Yeah, it's always next year.
All right, jake, congratulations to you and team hydra.
Okay, thank you, guys.
So, kenny, uh, it's tough
Because there's probably a lot of people at home
That are saying, wait a second,
Hydra got tantrum in the ai all those times.
So, how'd they lose this fight?
Well, listen, these decision are made in real time
And they are final.
But let's take a look at the scorecards here.
What did the judges see that we didn't?
[kenny] well, you could see here all three judges
Awarded the most damage points to tantrum.
They must have felt that all those flips by hydra
Didn't do a lot of meaningfu damage,
Whereas tantrum did gnaw the tip of jake's flipper of
Where the judges opinions differed, though, was aggression.
Derek and jason awarded that category to tantrum,
Perhaps penalizing hydra for its patient approach.
I don't know, that was a tricky one for me,
I... I thought, I thought hydra was gonna take it,
But, uh, obviously it was a close fight.
[chris] well, the fans clearly thought this should have gone hydra's way.
But two judges saw it differently.
Tantrum is a world class bo that has proven time and time again,
They are durable, they are dangerous,
And now they are moving on to the finals.
Who will join them?
We will find out next when sawblaze clashes
With witch doctor.
We are oh-so close to crowning
A brand-new champion.
The fight for the giant nut continues...
After this.
[chris] welcome back to the battlebots world championship tournament,
Where we are just one fight away
From the culmination of thi game changing season
In the duel for destiny and the giant nut.
Tantrum will be taking on
Either witch doctor or sawblaze.
You can see the teams makin their final preparations.
These two, very familiar with one another
Having fought twice in the past.
The series is tied one-one, kenny,
But they've never met in the semifinals.
[kenny] yeah, this is jamison go's first semi finals appearance.
Witch doctor actually beat sawblaze on the way
To the championship fight in 2019.
But right now, jamison probably has the most feared bot
Left in the competition.
And it is much better than it was when they last fought.
Witch doctor on the other hand,
Is coming off that controversial win
Over minotaur.
And after the fight, andrea gellatly really showed leadership
Keeping her team focused in the pits.
They did a full diagnostic of the bot.
The haas autodesk guys
Fabricated a new part specifically for this fight
She has them ready to go, chris.
The bots are ready to activate, kenny, let's do this.
[robotic voice] red team, ready.
[chris] there's the husband and wife duo, mike and andrea gellatly.
What changes did they make to prepare for sawblaze, kenny?
[kenny] well, they're debuti a new configuration for this fight.
Instead of running that dual disc spinner,
They've kinda combined that disc into one.
That's a 40 pound weapon that they believe
Is gonna line up better with sawblaze.
[robotic voice] blue team, ready.
Guys, ready?
[cheering]
Burn, baby!
[chris] sawblaze, earlier tonight,
Knocked out the rookie bot, riptide.
Jamison go doesn't really stray much from his strategy
[kenny] yeah, he's been dominant so far.
And remember during the off season,
He redesigned his bot with durability
And the tournament in mind.
This is fight number seven on the season,
So right here is where you could expect those chang
To pay dividends.
And this is the closest jamison's ever been to the nut.
No one is more prepared for this moment.
[crowd cheering]
[chris] a bird in the championship fight is on the line.
Who will square off against tantrum?
Will it be witch doctor
Or sawblaze?
Oh, man.
[chris] let the bot battle begin.
Sawblaze gets hung up on the floor, but recovers.
Oh, nice first shot by witch doctor.
Oh!
Are you kidding?
[kenny] took the wheels right off, tremendous start for witch doctor.
This could be the beginning of the end for sawblaze.
Unbelievable in the first 10 seconds of this fight.
[chris] mike gellatly wanted to prove
He belongs here and boy, is he making a statement?
Oh, yeah! Punched that whee into the lights and says,
"I'm gonna start choppin' on the rest of you."
What can jamison go do from here?
[chris] he is trying to stay squared up from witch doctor.
They're targeting that right wheel now,
Sawblaze got underneath ther
But here comes witch doctor
Whoa!
My goodness!
Unbelievable! Huge flip from witch doctor.
Oh! And another one!
Sawblaze is just taking a beating.
Kenny, and now it's on fire
Oh, no! [indistinct]
[chris] and his championshi dreams are officially cooked
[referee] ten, nine...
[chris] that was ridiculous
...Seven, six--
[kenny] mike gellatly and team witch doctor
Getting a standing ovation.
-Wow! -...Two, one.
Knock out!
[crowd cheering]
[chris] what a difference on fight can make in terms of crowd reaction.
Just hold it on, dude. Hold it on.
[kenny] better pay attention this happened quick.
[chris] yeah, mike gellatly was not messing around here
Clipped the tire, knocked sawblaze off balanc
And witch doctor took full advantage.
Ripped the wheel clean off, just nasty.
[kenny] jamison go tried to keep sawblaze above water
But witch doctor was simply relentless,
Flicked that wheel into the lights and said,
"it's time to finish this."
[chris] what a shot! Just complete ferocity from witch doctor.
They were not gonna be denied here.
[kenny] and how about this for a little poetic justice
After that controversial win over minotaur,
Witch doctor dismantles the team
That stopped minotaur to kick off this season,
Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
They are now headed to the finals.
[crowd cheering]
Andrea and mike, congratulations,
For the second time in three years,
You are playing for the giant nut.
-Wow. -[audience cheering]
Yes, yes, we are.
That wasn't a question, I wasn't sure.
Uh, man, we're just so stoked to be here,
Uh, we've overcome so much this season,
Uh, rebuilding the robot.
The field has been crazy, absolutely crazy.
We've taken damage after damage after,
You know, each fight and had to rebuild the robot.
So, huge thanks to our team for just bein' on deck.
Uh, we couldn't do this without them.
Um, and thanks to our sponsors,
I mean, our sponsors, they've even overnighted parts to us just the other night,
Um, like in one day turnaround.
So, I just wanna huge shout-out to all the, all these people
Who make this happen.
Um, and we're, man, we're just so excited to be, to be back in the finals.
[chris] well, we'll let the team get ready for the championship.
We will see you guys in a few minutes. Congratulations.
-Thank you. -[crowd cheering]
[chris] well, I think, witch doctor just answered any questions
About whether or not they deserve to be here.
And kenny, much respect goes out to jamison go.
[kenny] yeah, he's got a championship in his future, for sure.
[chris] and you know what's in his bot's future?
Becoming a piece of david fay's battletrot sculpture,
Which is almost complete
Because the battle for the giant nut is all set
The rising stars of tantrum will face off
With the voodoo veteran, witch doctor,
And this one's for all the marbles.
It's the final fight
Of the 2021, world championship tournament
And it is next on battlebots
[crowd cheering]
[chris] we are back on battlebots,
And kenny, after months, it has all come down to this.
A sold-out crowd
Here at caesar's entertainment studios,
All set to find out who will be the next team
To hoist the giant nut.
[kenny] that's right, chris this final fight has so much buzz around it.
We've had to turn away fans at the door.
And there's a shot at both teams during the break,
Scrambling to make their final preparations
For the biggest fight of their lives
And maybe for this sport.
The first ever championship from vegas
Is a historic moment
And it's more than 25 years in the making.
[chris] it began in 1994
In the back alleys of the san francisco bay.
But as the machines rapidly evolved,
So did the sport.
Battlebots quickly outgrew every stage in ever called home
Until it found fitting new surroundings here in sin city,
The fight capital of the world.
This season, 60 elite teams from around the globe
Put it all on the line in more than 100 fights
Where technology, engineering and driving
Were all pushed to new heights.
Oh, my goodness!
And as is the grand tradition here at battlebots,
Excellence at the highest level of robot combat
Will be rewarded with the most glorious of hardwar
Now, tantrum,
Led by ginger schmidt and alex grant,
Has a chance at perfection. With a win,
They would complete an undefeated season
In their first year as team captains,
While victory for witch doct
Would be the culmination of mike and andrea gellatly' relationship,
Which began nearly 15 years ago
At a battlebot student competition.
And regardless of who comes out on top,
For the first time in battlebots' history,
A female-led squad will win it all.
Three minutes stands between these teams
And immortality.
[crowd cheering]
[chris] but before the builders make their final walks out of the tunne
Kenny, take us through the numbers.
[kenny] well, witch doctor definitely has the more powerful weapon
But tantrum has 40 horses
In that tiny yet heavily armored package.
When it comes to experience, though,
Mike gellatly greatly outnumbers tantrum driver, dillon carey,
And you cannot discount muscle memory in a match
That will likely come down to driving.
Take a deep breath.
We are about to crown a brand-new champion.
Will it be tantrum?
[crowd cheering]
Will it be witch doctor?
-You ready to find out? -Let's do this.
Faruq, take it away.
[crowd cheering]
Ladies and gentlemen,
Are you ready?
[crowd cheering]
It's championship
Robot fighting time.
In the red square,
This mistress of the dark arts
Concocted a potion
And she rolled through the tournament
And caused a commotion.
The dark witch took pieces
And she reduced victims to husk.
She started with a broth brewed
From mammoth tusk.
She tasted and thought, "not bad,
But it needs more bite."
So, she stole copperhead's venom after she took his life.
Now, the cauldron was bubbling with concoctions bizarre,
So, she spiced it up right
With some horn of minotaur.
It needed a little more heat to truly amaze,
So she cooked it over the flaming corpse of sawblaze.
The only thing missing is a little more meat,
Perhaps the fingers of tantrum, yes,
That would be sweet.
Then she'll drink it and be transformed,
Magic like you've never seen,
As the wicked witch doctor
Becomes the battlebots' queen.
It's witch doctor!
[crowd cheering]
[kenny] I think we gotta get faruq the giant nut
For getting through that, to be honest.
[chris] witch doctors had to navigate a minefield
To get to the finals, kenny
Facing both minotaur and sawblaze tonight,
But they have been here befo and they know what it takes
[kenny] yeah, incredible jo to repair
And adjust on the fly.
And one of the adjustments they made in that last fight
That bigger, single disc weapon,
They're sticking with it her
And I think if I mike can ge a shot with that early on
And control the tempo,
That's their best bet at the title.
[crowd cheering]
[faruq] in the blue square,
This team's been humble in victory
And they've never been conceded,
But they'd had plenty of practice
Since they haven't been defeated.
It's one thing to prepare for the title
To face the final boss,
But they're the only bot here
Who's gone this entire distance without a loss.
They beat malice in their first fight,
Set bunny running through the field,
Then smashed a mirror over lucky's head
And kept it even-keeled.
Next, they took on gigabyte,
A legendary bot,
Took that giant hockey puck
And bounced it all across the box.
They made rotator do a 360
And walk right out the door,
Then dominated cobalt
And moved into the top four,
Ran their win streak
To six against hydra,
Now, they're walking with a strut,
As they get ready to use those tiny hands
To hoist the giant nut.
Give it up for tantrum.
[crowd cheering]
[chris] captained by aren hi a season ago in 2020,
They got to the semi finals
Now, alex and ginger,
The co-captains
Captain in the final.
[kenny] yes, so far,
The lights haven't been too bright
For these rookie captains.
The pressure in this fight, though,
Is all on driver, dillon carey.
He was playing with fire in the semis,
Giving hydra opportunities to strike multiple times.
In the championship,
There is zero room for error
[chris] and for more on the fight for the giant nut
Let's bring in our bot whisperer, pete.
Gentlemen, I was talking to both teams just before this fight,
And, I mean, tensions are obviously high.
They're both very nervous.
So, mike did not want to make any big changes.
One of the things that he's really worried about
Is this floor has seen some serious hammering
Over the past few fights,
And he knows there's gonna be
Lots of seams in this floor
And he doesn't want to catch any of them
By adding forks.
So, he's gonna, sort of stay in his old,
Four-by-four style
And drive it like it's a rental car.
And tantrum is coming in, when I spoke to ginger,
She was saying, consistency, consistency, consistency.
They've done everything the same as they've done
In all their fights before.
They don't want to bring in any new variables into this
And we're going to see two drivers
That are very similar in style.
[chris] great job, pete.
And there you see aren hill backstage,
Anxiously watching
To see if the team he founde
Can pull this one off.
[robotic voice] robots activate.
[crowd cheering]
[chris] it is time to crown a brand-new champion.
This is it, folks.
Winner take all.
Will it be witch doctor
Led by the husband and wife duo
Or tantrum, owned by the rookie co-captains?
It's the conclusion
Of the battlebots
World championship tournaments,
And it's next.
[kenny] huge flip from witch doctor.
-And another one, oh. -[chris] oh.
[faruq] ...Witch doctor.
[andrea] we've been chasing this dream for so long,
It's so close right now,
I don't think I've ever thought of what we would do
If we actually achieved it.
[chris] tantrum has got cobalt in the corner.
Oh! Oh!
[ginger] our goal was to jus be in the semifinals.
Now, we're in the finals.
I don't think it has fully set in for me.
[chris] oh, nice job by witch doctor.
Oh, wow!
[ginger] witch doctor has a extremely
Destructive vertical weapon,
But tantrum is a brick.
Tantrum has been driving incredibly aggressively,
No room for error for their opponents.
[faruq] ...Tantrum!
[mike] but we think we'll b able to take hits from tantr
And keep on working 100%.
[ginger] if tantrum wins the giant nut tonight,
Every single hand who has been helping out in the pit...
Will be there with us.
[andrea] battlebots is such a huge part of our life.
This would be the ultimate validation
That all of that has been worth it.
We're here to put on a show.
Un-be-lievable!
[kenny] welcome back to the 2021
Battlebots world championship final
Where three minutes stands between
One of these teams and hoisting the giant nut.
Will it be witch doctor...
Or tantrum?
It is time to crown a brand-new champion.
And for the first time ever
It will be a team led by a female captain.
Here we go.
[crowd cheering]
[chris] every screw tightene and bolt secured
Has led to this moment and the chance to make history.
[crowd cheering]
Let the bot championship begin.
Lots of circling to start this one.
Which team will strike first
Oh! Tantrum gettin' right underneath
Witch doctor testin' the underbelly.
[kenny] oh, I think that ma have hurt witch doctor, chri
They are not moving well.
[chris] oh, tantrum gettin' underneath again!
Dillon carey takin' the figh straight to mike gellatly
Here in the championship final.
[kenny] yep, witch doctor is struggling
To make contact with the floor.
[chris] and now tantrum goes on the attack
Trying to take witch doctor into the screws.
Yeah!
And it looks like witch doct
Is indeed struggling with a major mobility issue
Mike gellatly, clearly frustrated.
Can he find a way to power through this
And get his team back in the fight?
Dillon carey just kind of biding his time,
Stalking witch doctor like a hungry lion.
[kenny] must've been that first shot by tantrum,
Chris, something got bent backwards
On the underside of witch doctor
Because they cannot get contact with the floor
On that right side.
And now tantrum, able to get underneath again.
[chris] witch doctor up against the screws,
That's a bad area.
Now got on top of tantrum.
[kenny] I think a belt may have come
Loose on witch doctor as wel
[chris] this is just tragic for witch doctor.
And in this, boy, mike gellatly...
Just kind of sauntering around
The middle of the box.
[kenny] tantrum trying to g in for another hit,
But they don't want to go weapon-to-weapon,
They're trying to attack the side or the back
Of witch doctor here.
[chris] just under 90 seconds to go in this championship fight.
Can tantrum finish the job here against the crooked witch doctor?
Lands a jab and gets around to the back side.
[kenny] they might be trying to bring him over to the corner.
[chris] huge hit and witch doctor is on its head.
Into the rails!
[kenny] and they're trying to get witch doctor to destroy itself,
And they're getting an assist from the battlebots arena here.
Under a minute to go, the killsaws are now active.
[chris] tantrum,
Goes in for another shot taking witch doctor into the rails.
Dillon carey doing a masterful job, kenny.
[kenny] yeah, this is going exactly how they wanted.
They've been winning a lot of points in the damage category as well.
You've got to move forward or I'm gonna have to count you out.
[chris] thirty seconds to g in the title fight,
Witch doctor's weapons still working,
But it is awfully painful to watch the legend continu to spin in circles here.
I gotta see some movement here.
[kenny] yeah, tantrum might be lining up a big shot
To try to get him out of the battlebots.
No, we don't need to. Count down in on.
[chris] we're gonna have a new champion and its name is tantrum!
[referee]...Three, two, one
Knock out.
[crowd cheering]
[chris] look at the face of ginger schmidt
And alex grant.
They are champions of the battlebots world.
[crowd cheering]
Oh, my god.
Yeah...
[chris] kenny, it didn't loo like a huge hit,
But this fight was pretty much decided in the first 15 seconds.
[kenny] yeah and credit the design of tantrum for that
Popped up witch doctor with those forks got
All the way underneath.
And ripped open a piece of armor on the underside of that bot.
That left witch doctor high setter for the rest of the match
Putting tantrum in complete control.
[chris] and it's that incredible design,
Coupled with some world clas driving that carried this team
All the way through an undefeated season
And now team tantrum
Etches its name in the history books.
Whoo!
[chris] alex and ginger, congratulations,
You are the 2021 battlebots world champion.
[crowd cheering]
Thank you. Thank you so much.
Ginger, how did you guys do this, this season?
I think our biggest thing was consistency.
Tantrum went into every fight with the same strategy.
We were gonna take it easy,
We were gonna execute,
We weren't playing any games
And it worked, we won.
[crowd cheering]
[chris] I think you guys brought with you,
Your entire hometown to help you in the pits.
-It certainly looks that way. -Yeah.
[team cheering]
We couldn't have done it without them.
This is amazing.
They did a fantastic job,
And I just wanna give a special shout out to this guy,
-Aren hill. -Yeah.
He put this team together and...
Huh? Yeah, he put the team together and it's...
-And that's why we're here, right? -Yeah.
We're here to take some new designs,
Show that they can work and,
And they did, and it's, it's really,
-I just wanna say thank you again to aren. -Yeah.
I mean, aren brought us all together,
But it took every single one of us here to make this happen.
Without anyone missing we wouldn't be here.
So truly, it takes the team.
It does.
[crowd cheering]
Oh, my god!
[chris] wait, what are you looking at?
Shut up, shut up. I don't see any...
What, what are you looking at, ginger?
-The giant nut. -Would you like, would you like
-To have it come in? -Yeah.
Yes, the co-creators trey roski and greg munson,
Why don't you bring that thi in so they can get a good lo
At the giant nut.
-Everyone... -Everyone...
Yeah, ready? Yay!
[chris] once again, let's he it for your 2021 battlebots world champions,
Team tantrum.
[cheering]
[all cheering]
[chris] what an incredible season,
We had memorable fights
The deepest field ever, did you have fun this year?
Oh, my gosh, unbelievable.
It's hard to say goodbye, at least for now.
For faruq, our bot whisperer pete,
My man kenny florian,
I am chris rose, we will see you next time here on battlebots.
[all cheering]