[bot] robots activate.
Welcome to battlebots, the only sport where kill saws
and pulverizers are totally legal.
Hi, everybody. I'm chris rose, and I'm joined by a ufc legend
and the best damn robot combat analyst in the entire world,
say hello to kenny florian.
Thanks, chris.
By the way, I'm pretty sure those weapons were actually legal in rollerball.
Well, kenny, that was a movie. I meant real life sports.
Well, they definitely had kill saws in the xfl.
I think you might be misremembering that.
Was it rock n' jock basketball?
I know I saw kill saw somewhere.
It'll come to me.
Anyway, while you search for that answer,
let's talk about some bots that'll be searching
for something else tonight, that is a perfect start to their season.
Five of tonight's seven matchups
feature teams looking to jump out to clean 2-0 records, kenny.
[kenny] that's right. We'll see the punching disc
of tantrum as new captains alex grant
and ginger schmidt look to stay undefeated
against the best flipper ever
to represent the proud nation of canada,
mark demers and lucky making their battlebots return.
[commentator] oh, nice flip by lucky!
[kenny] the prehistoric pachyderm mammoth will also be in search of its second win
when it steps to former champs ray billings and tombstone,
desperate for revenge after a shocking upset loss in its opening round fight.
[commentator] oh, what a shock!
[kenny] as the once mighty king lost a step, we'll find out later tonight.
And all roads lead to our monster main event
where the wild man martin mason and mad catter
will bring their signature brand of chaos to the party
to dance with jamison go and sawblaze.
Jamison is a man possessed this season
and told us mad catter is just another piece of metal
to rip through on its way to the giant nut.
[commentator] sawblaze is a beast!
[kenny] but kicking things off,
we've got a match up sure to deliver a plethora of pain.
It's bunny sauriol and the bay area bomber malice
bringing bad intentions into the box
to face the hometown heroes, las vegas' own jackpot.
You guys ready to get it started?
They're ready. Faruq, take it away.
Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready?
It's robot fighting time!
In the red square,
a hard-hitting bot with the head engineer
who's got killer instinct and some killer bunny ears.
Think bots are just for boys?
You're wrong and you'll be reeling.
She'll knock you out of the pass
and right through the glass ceiling, it's malice!
And here comes malice, led by the one and only bunny sauriol.
They enter this match at 0-1 after getting slapped around by tantrum.
That's right. This team has had weapon issues for two years now.
It was radio control problems last time.
And they think they've got it figured out.
If they can get this weapon to function properly inside the box,
malice is a legitimate knockout threat.
In the blue square, this bot is from right here in vegas
and after he gives you a pounding,
they'll find your body floating in the bellagio fountain.
You want to win, you'll get stabbed like caesar and be totally dead.
He'll leave you like the luxor with a hole in your head,
it's jackpot!
[chris] here comes jackpot led by the tandem of jeff waters and robert stehn.
Man, I love the paint job on that front wedge, that is special.
So, why don't you put me down for 100 on black 22, kenny?
[kenny] always bet on black, chris.
Jackpot enters with a record of 1-0
after taking down deadlift in an unaired fight earlier this season.
That ended up being a pushing match.
But I expect this one to be way more violent.
Check out that weapon they call heartbreaker,
an ar 400 disc that only cost them 80 bucks to replace.
So they have no problem throwing it into the fire
and going full send on every hit.
For the jackpot fight we're gonna go with the normal rolling blackout,
which is our big dual-sided weapon.
They're going to run their plow, of course,
wedges in general are the bane of spinner's existence.
So it's going to be two very large hitting robots with huge impacts.
We'll try to stack that upper deck with a couple jackpots.
Jeff was actually on malice before jackpot.
I know that bot inside and out,
so we should be able to pick that thing apart.
We're going to box rush them with a giant wedge.
We're just not gonna let them spin up.
And we're gonna keep on hitting them with the heartbreaker.
This is gonna be a great fight.
We have two high energy spinners, so what more can you ask for?
Jackpot! Jackpot! Jackpot!
[chris] the las vegas crowd showing their team some love.
[bot] robots activate.
[chris] and let's welcome in the third member of our team tonight.
He is the bot whisperer, peter abrahamson.
All right, pete.
Malice always talks about wanting to be the most destructive bot.
Well, this thing has gotta get working then tonight.
Yeah, they brought one hell of a weapon on the end of that robot.
They've got what they call rolling blackout,
which has s7 hardened teeth on it that are held in with these ar 500 brackets.
Now the bracket holds the tooth to the weapon's bar
for higher durability in those big impacts with verts.
Will this lead to a better reliability against jackpot?
We'll see.
[man] go jackpot!
[bot] red team, ready.
Cheers!
-[laughing] -[bot] blue team, ready.
Got a lucky rabbit foot.
[chris] oh, you got to love jeff, who, of course, is a vegas plumber
when he's not fighting robots.
Jackpot 4-0 all-time in the qualifiers.
Let's see if they can keep that hot streak going here.
Let the bot battle begin!
Here comes jackpot out of box rush.
Heartbreaker takes one right on the blade.
Huge hit there.
Oh!
[kenny] two power shots by malice.
[chris] keep an eye on malice's weapon in this fight.
Oh!
We saw it go down early against tantrum.
Weapon on weapon.
That is big time right there.
So far that spinner on malice still going strong, kenny.
Oh.
[kenny] I tell you what, chris, malice looks way faster
than we saw him in their first fight.
[chris] oh, and that big time...
[kenny] took it in front, rolling, now takes a shot.
[chris] but there it goes spinning back up.
It's a much stronger malice here tonight.
[kenny] what a great fight so far.
Malice going right out.
Oh, nice counter shot by jackpot.
[chris] malice just eludes the pulverizer.
[kenny] oh, malice looks a little dizzy after that one though.
[chris] might need some smelling salts.
[kenny] but jackpot right on the grind.
They are relentless.
I'm not sure there's anything that can stop that weapon.
[chris] huge jump by jackpot, and glass rains down inside the battle box.
That was awesome.
[kenny] it just took out a lot, chris.
[chris] jackpot trying to put malice up on the screws.
Oh, my goodness!
[kenny] let's see if those screws will reverse
and dump malice back into play. It does.
Unbelievable!
[chris] oh, jackpot right on malice's behind.
[kenny] malice is hurt badly, chris.
Look at them just crab walking now.
[chris] and here comes jackpot to try and finish the job.
[kenny] and jackpot...
Oh, it's starting to smoke.
Jackpot is starting to smoke.
[kenny] that may be the weapon motor, chris, but the drive looks okay.
Malice is gonna get counted out here.
Ten, nine...
[chris] and there it is, kenny florian, the countdown has started.
And the hometown boys from jackpot are gonna kick off the night with a victory.
That's a knockout!
[kenny] jackpot is one nasty robot.
Man, if you like weapon on weapon crime,
you stopped at the right place.
[chris] well, listen, I don't care if you're team jackpot or team malice,
you're gonna need some tylenol after this one.
Some serious hits.
[kenny] rolling blackout, the weapon on malice was very impressive
but they got broken down by heartbreaker, the weapon of jackpot.
That thing is lethal.
[chris] take a look at this shot from jackpot,
[chris] sending shrapnel flying up to the ceiling and shattering a light.
That is terrifying.
And here it is again from outside the box.
That is so darn cool.
Hey, give malice credit for hanging in as long as it could.
But there was simply no recovering from that shot.
The hometown heroes, team jackpot,
they keep their hot streak in the qualifiers alive.
Viva las vegas!
Robert and jeff, congratulations.
Jeff, it sure looks like you guys hit a lot harder this year.
We... We really stepped it up this game
and believe it or not, that weapon is actually lighter
than double diamonds.
It's just we have more power behind it
and we can utilize it better now that we can drive.
Both you and malice are devastating bots.
Were you nervous about this matchup?
Oh, yeah. I mean, malice is a big spinner
and as you saw, malice was doing, you know,
turning us around very easily.
So it was... It was very scary.
Well, guys, congratulations.
We know you're a bot on a budget.
And, jeff, you're a full-time plumber as well.
Kenny's a little embarrassed to ask
but he blew up the toilet in his hotel.
Can you help out?
-We'll take that as a yes. -All right.
Thanks, buddy.
I'm telling you, jackpot just will not lose in the regular season.
You know, last year we were like, "okay, rookie bots. Sometimes you get lucky."
this thing ain't lucky anymore.
No question about it.
To one up what they did last season is really impressive.
That's a bot to watch.
[chris] we are just getting started here in sin city tonight.
Coming up, captain charles guan
will try to overhaul ribbot's entire face.
It's cosmetic surgery time when ribbot takes on overhaul.
That's next on battlebots.
We are back here on battlebots.
That's kenny florian. I am chris rose.
And up next, ribbot is back into the box for the second time in the 2021 season.
They dismantled defender in their first fight.
David jin in led this bot all the way to the top eight a season ago.
They're ready to take that next step.
Very impressive so far.
[kenny] absolutely. This team is primed for another big season.
Ribbot is a modular bot that could attack you in a variety of ways.
The team made the switch to brushless weapon motors this year,
which gives them a much greater power to weight ratio.
And we saw that translate in their dominating performance against defender.
And I'm excited for the return of overhaul.
Captained by charles guan,
we first met this team all the way back in 2015
when they went toe to toe with legends like bite force and lockjaw.
But keep this in mind, they haven't competed since season three.
And kenny taking two years off from battlebots,
it's kind of like stepping away for a decade in more traditional sports.
[kenny] definitely. The technology is advancing exponentially,
and so is the lethality of these robots.
That said, overhaul is one of the sturdiest control bots in the field
and it has a history of taking on big punchers and surviving.
The stakes are high for charles guan this season
as he looks to prove he still belongs in this modern era of robot combat.
[chris] let's see what charles guan's got.
Faruq.
In the red square, you know what they say,
if you're feeling froggy then leap.
But be careful because this bot can put you straight to sleep.
This amphibious assassin can do you really bad,
and then bury your body right under his lily pad.
It's ribbot!
[chris] here come the boys from wpi looking for their second win of the season.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
What's happened to our green friend?
Did he get left in the freezer or something?
Why is he blue?
[kenny] yeah, captain david jin said they painted ribbot blue
as an homage to charles guan in overhaul.
But I think they're just trying to piss him off.
Looks like they're going with their undercutting weapon for this fight.
Ribbot is able to drive inverted.
So if overhaul does manage to flip them,
this weapon will be just as lethal, chris.
In the blue square, just like little john,
this bot now resides in atlanta, ga.
Ask him if he's tough and he'll tell you, "okay."
he's come all this way to fight for the nut.
You can beg him for mercy,
but he'll just answer, "what?"
make some noise, yeah, for overhaul!
[chris] for the first time in three years,
charles guan is walking through the tunnel.
The cat ears are back.
Let's take a look at that bad boy.
He hasn't changed, kenny.
[kenny] yeah, it's still the same lifter-grabber design,
but to keep up with this year's lightning fast field,
charles has overhauled overhaul's drive systems and added bigger wheels.
He hopes that means increased mobility,
which he said should help him both offensively and defensively.
In our last fight against defender, we used a vertical spinner module,
but since we redesigned both modules from scratch this season,
we really wanted a chance to test our other modules.
So our plan going into this fight is to use our second module,
the undercutter, to fight overhaul.
We think that we are either gonna be able to get around his exposed wheels
or potentially blast some holes in his wedge.
Both robots are super fast and super maneuverable.
I also know that charles is a very experienced builder, very experienced driver.
There's no way we can underestimate him.
It's gonna be a good match.
Overhaul is still the good old grab
and lift bot that it ever was.
My whole plan with the ribbot,
they're a pretty compact four-wheel drive bot with a weapon,
I think I know how to deal with that
and I'm just gonna try to just go in at the start and just grab it.
And if I get them into the claws of overhaul,
they're gonna get a tour of every single arena hazard that they have.
And then hopefully I can end it by just throwing them on a shelf
and seeing how they deal with it.
[bot] robots activate.
[chris] lot of wicked smart guys from massachusetts going head-to-head here.
Team overhaul from mit,
team ribbot representing worcester polytechnic institute.
Might be some bragging rights on the line in this one.
[chris] no big deal. Those are my safety scores.
Let the bot battle begin!
Overhaul going right into the mug of ribbot.
[kenny] overhaul so sturdy though, chris.
[chris] whoa.
Nice shot there by ribbot.
-Oh! -Oh!
-Uh-oh!
[chris] ribbot's speed getting the best of overhaul here, kenny.
[kenny] ribbot making overhaul dizzy.
And I'm not sure they're moving, chris. This might be a knockout.
[chris] oh, yeah, that left front tire is done.
Ribbot is driving circles around overhaul,
almost [inaudible] the bot from mit here.
The countdown is on
and ribbot is gonna make quick work of a very tough robot in overhaul.
[inaudible]
[kenny] he's trying to give a nudge. He wants a better fight.
But it's another quick knockout for team ribbot.
[chris] very, very impressive by david jin and his crew.
[chris] don't blink because this one didn't last long, kenny.
[kenny] man, it was all ribbot.
This team is looking really sharp,
really dangerous just shot after shot.
And that was pretty much it.
[chris] you know, overhaul has a reputation
for being able to absorb punishment
from heavy hitters and extend fights.
But ribbot just put it to sleep in a hurry
and put the field on notice as well.
Spun him around, went right at him, one, two, three combination
and that was it. Whoo!
Bot parts everywhere.
David jin, did you even break a sweat?
I was breaking a sweat before that match started.
Um, but once the match was going,
I think we were pretty calm, pretty collected.
We're trying to go fast.
I think it worked out pretty well.
What's the difference in ribbot this year?
I think we've gotten much better at keeping our weapons spinning.
We're able to spin up much faster after impacts,
which means we can hit them a lot more consistently.
What do you think your 2-0 start
with a pair of knockouts says to the selection committee so far?
I think it looks pretty good.
We'll see what they give us for our third match up.
But we'll go from here.
All right, david, congratulations to you and team ribbot.
All right, david jin didn't want to oversell himself to the selection committee.
If you were part of the selection committee
with a 2-0 start and a pair of knockouts, what would you say?
I mean, right now he's looking extremely dominant,
he hasn't been challenged, period.
So, yeah, to knock out a bot that resilient in 40 seconds,
I would want to fight this team.
[chris] coming up next, blade, the rookie horizontal spinner from south korea.
We'll try to take the sting out of the deadly hammer saw of skorpios.
And later tonight, get ready for some wwe style pandemonium
when martin mason and mad catter
take on the flaming green machine sawblaze in our main event.
Stay tuned.
We are back on battlebots.
And kenny florian, one of the things I love about this sport,
it is a true international competition.
So we want to welcome our first ever competitor from seoul, south korea,
cheog-gyu hwang. He is the engineer of blade.
Now he's not new to combat robotics.
He's competed and done well over in china.
But he had such a big smile on his face
when he was talking about being a rookie
all over again here at battlebots.
[kenny] that's right. They may be rookies,
but the field has been scouting this team online for years now.
The bot's already gotten a lot of attention back in the pits
and everyone's chomping at the bit to see it make its debut on the big stage.
International success is one thing,
but winning fights here at battlebots is a measuring stick
you just can't simulate anywhere else.
Taking on skorpios, co-captained by the husband and wife combination
of zach lytle and diana tarlson.
Now last season was really special for them.
During the pandemic, they nearly lost their entire business
but they turned around, had an incredible run here at battlebots.
They beat tombstone in a main event.
They won a bounty tournament and gained a ton of respect.
Now their business has actually bounced back
and they feel like the sky is the limit for their robot.
[kenny] that's right.
And they did that really with the weapon
that wasn't really at full power.
So they believe they have the best skorpios yet.
This is gonna be fun.
Faruq, take it away.
In the red square from seoul, south korea,
forget bts, he's here to make you rip.
It's blade!
[chris] look at that bot, kenny.
It looks kind of like a klingon spaceship.
[kenny] yeah, blade is a beautiful heavy-hitting horizontal spinner
with a wedge in the rear.
They're going with their 50-pound bar for this fight.
Tough matchup for them out of the gate though.
Skorpios has a history of success against horizontals.
Blade will need to create space
in order to get its weapon up to speed
and then avoid going face first into that giant front plow of skorpios.
In the blue square, from san francisco, california...
Get over here and take a beating from skorpios.
[chris] there is zach in front leading the charge.
Bots are gonna fly. Bots are gonna die.
[chris] I think they're already talking trash.
Listen to the crowd. They flat out love it.
[kenny] look at that wedge, man.
I gotta put that on the front of my car, nobody'll mess with me.
[chris] that wedge is intimidating.
But the team is most excited about its new hammer saw.
It's spinning at more than double the rpms it was last year.
They expect it to deliver more damage as a result
and told us that skorpios is now a legitimate contender for the giant nut.
Skorpios!
Skorpios! Skorpios!
Blades, wheel guards and wedges,
pull him off the ground and let him slide and go crazy.
We're gonna try to take advantage of that.
Which could be a detriment to us
because if you drive it like you stole it into blade's craziness,
then that could go bad for our... For our hammer stick.
Well, we'll just have to be a little more patient than normal.
Yeah, patience is a virtue.
And we don't have that one.
[bot] robots activate.
[chris] kenny, what do you know about the driver of blade?
[kenny] well, her name is ju sangeun.
She's actually a professional violinist
and is used to performing under pressure, chris.
She's been driving blade since 2019.
But this will be the biggest test by far of her young career.
[chris] for more on her opponent's strategy tonight,
let's throw it over to the bot whisperer.
Pete, what do you have?
If you remember last year,
skorpios has three large pieces of armor
that are bolted onto the front, each independent,
and they got ripped off and damaged pretty heavily
during their fight with tombstone.
They're taking all those lessons from tombstone
and they've welded the back side and the front side
to each side of the armor making one continuous piece.
So this is what's going to probably save them
against a very tombstone-like robot.
[kenny] let the bot battle begin!
And here comes skorpios out of box rushing and takes it to blade.
Trying to prevent that horizontal spinner
from getting up to speed, chris.
Blade retreats into the short corner.
Skorpios' all over it and now zach lytle firing up that hammer saw.
[kenny] oh, my goodness.
[chris] look at that weapon go to work.
Skorpios has already opened up a serious gash on the backside of blade.
The bot from seoul, south korea
trying to create some space here
but skorpios won't give an inch.
That hammer saw threatening to do more damage with every major hit, kenny.
[kenny] yeah, this is what zach is known for, aggressive driving,
just staying right on top of his opponents.
[chris] and just took another big chunk out of blade.
[kenny] blade's weapon still active though.
[chris] oh, skorpios continues to rack up the aggression and damage points.
Blade tries to counter but skorpios says, "no way, my friend."
I'm stuck, I'm stuck.
[kenny] skorpios' saw is stuck in blade's skull, chris.
That is medieval.
[chris] oh, look at that control, look at that driving from zach lytle.
Blade's horizontal spinner is still active but has been a non-factor.
And skorpios shoves blade into the corner,
lets the pulverizer get in on the action too.
[kenny] this is easily the most powerful that we've seen skorpios.
That primary weapon is doing some serious damage here.
[chris] holy smoke!
Can blade even move? Just barely.
90 seconds remaining.
Skorpios backs up now, playing a little red light, green light
with the bot from south korea.
Skorpios saying, if you move, there will be consequences.
You gotta tell me you got some kind of movement in there.
I gotta see...
[chris] the ref issuing a warning to team blade.
Whoa!
Skorpios takes a friendly fire from its own pulverizer.
Now nudges blade under the 100-pound hammer well.
[kenny] oh, my goodness.
This has been all skorpios all the time.
[chris] under a minute left to go.
And why doesn't skorpios just back off and let blade get counted out here, kenny?
[kenny] I think zach and diana wanna milk
every second of fight time they have tonight
and put skorpios through its paces.
[chris] well, listen, they think they have a championship bot this season
and after this awesome performance,
I am not gonna say otherwise.
[kenny] what a brutal introduction to the big leagues
for the robot from south korea.
[chris] skorpios continuing to engage.
And like so many of its opponents,
blade has spent all night trying to avoid that big front plow.
[kenny] literally taking it apart piece by piece.
[chris] the kill saw's getting involved here in the final moments
of a one-sided match
that saw skorpios absolutely dominate battlebots rookie blade.
Either way that final bell means the decision will now lie
in the hands of our judges.
[kenny] lisa winter, jason bardis and derek young,
who are once again scoring on an 11-point system.
Up to five points can be awarded for damage,
three for aggression and three for control.
That was amazing. So good.
[chris] team skorpios all hugs, and why not,
because start to finish, kenny, they were so impressive.
[kenny] yeah, absolutely.
This is the most destructive we have seen skorpios.
They gave this team from south korea quite the welcoming.
Look at that.
First strike just digs right into that wedge,
takes a huge chunk off, does it again, the same spot.
Just surgical.
And I really thought the driving out of zach was so impressive.
He never allowed blade a chance to regroup.
[chris] he did it all.
I mean, whether it was taking chunks out of their weapon, controlling,
picking them up, delivering him in other parts of the battle box,
staying on him, I mean he really did it all.
I mean, this was like a clinic here from zach lytle.
The results from the judges are in.
And the winner by unanimous decision is...
Skorpios!
We love you, guys.
[chris] zach and diana, I hate to break up the love fest over there,
but boy, this is the way it was supposed to be with that weapon, huh?
Yes. Yes, the power!
We spent our entire offseason trying to make the weapon better.
We made a whole youtube channel about it.
And we're now turning out eight times the power
the original weapon had back in season five.
With that being said, zach and diana,
you wanna win this thing, don't you?
Yeah.
-There's a giant nut and I want to go home with it. -With our name on it.
Anyway, great first step. Congratulations.
-Thank you. -Thank you.
[chris] all right, kenny.
Skorpios is off to a hot start.
That was the real deal out of the gate.
No question about it.
Zach lytle and team skorpios, they were in beast mode.
My goodness. They did everything.
[chris] and no shame in what cheog-gyu hwang and blade did tonight.
They simply ran into a buzz saw.
Look for them to bounce back in their next match.
All right, coming up, will ray billings need to prepare
a massive grave
or will the prehistoric mammoth make tombstone extinct?
It's mammoth against tombstone and it's next on battlebots.
Welcome back to battlebots.
Do you enjoy watching robots fight to the death?
Well, I've got some good news for you.
Next up, former battlebots champion tombstone
returns to action after a shocking upset loss in its opening fight.
Once considered the most feared machine on the planet,
it's now been five years since captain ray billings hoisted the giant nut.
And as the robot combat world continues to evolve,
it begs the question, has tombstone lost a step?
[ray] I first started in battlebots a long time ago
and there were always some robots
when that robot fights, the pits went empty.
I wanted to clear the pits.
I wanted everybody to come watch tombstone.
That's what it was.
It was all about making sure that I just had the biggest kit available in the sport.
[commentator] tombstone, the grim reaper of battlebots.
My reputation as being that guy
has been around for a long time.
[commentator] look at that blade spin.
That right there is the mike tyson of battlebots.
2016 was a good year for us.
Everybody fell, nobody could take what I had that year
and we just marched our way to the finals
and went home with the giant nut.
[commentator] a new champ is crowned!
Ray billings and tombstone!
[chris] brutal collisions, kenny. Tombstone looks hurt.
Last year was a disappointment.
We felt we could have and should have done better than we did.
[chris] the former champ, he's on the ropes.
And in our first fight this year,
we did take a loss against captain shrederator.
[chris] tombstone smoking already and takes a serious shot.
The thing about this sport is little itty bitty things can... Can derail you.
[chris] tombstone's season goes up in flames, at least in the early going.
Whenever I don't perform as well as I think I should,
whenever I don't just dominate in a match, you get a lot of that talk,
"oh, my god, tombstone's not doing its thing anymore.
It's an old bot. It's not up to standard anymore."
go ask anybody who I have hit whether they think I don't have it anymore.
Everybody in this building should be afraid
of what tombstone can do to their robot.
Every team should understand that.
If I get the right hit, you're gonna die.
[chris] kenny, the stakes could not be any higher for tombstone
in this match for the second straight season.
Ray billings has to figure out a way to dig out of an 0-1 start.
Well, listen, if anyone can do it, it's ray billings.
He had a tough out against a high-energy bot and captain shrederator.
This one is another tough fight though.
He's about to face a captain and robot
who's trying to break the mold on what a championship robot looks like.
And that's ricky willems and his massive machine, mammoth.
He's coming off of a big knockout over hijinx,
and beating tombstone tonight could very well prove his thesis.
[chris] a lot on the line for these two bots.
Let's send it over to faruq.
In the red square,
he's the godfather of bots and he's beaten plenty of good fellas.
His legend status is untouchable.
Other bots should be jealous.
Now he's in the land of casino and his runs just getting started.
And after he kills you, we'll call you the departed.
Give it up for tombstone!
[chris] and here comes the 2016 world champion, ray billings.
Last time we saw tombstone, it was practically roasting marshmallows inside the box.
Kenny, what went wrong against captain shrederator?
[kenny] well, they switched the type of batteries that powered tombstone's blade.
The new batteries are supposed to provide even more power to that legendary weapon,
but they've been overheating
and that's what led to the fire we saw in their last fight.
They've been playing with circuits to get it right.
But this is do or die for the king of kinetic energy.
In the blue square, a gigantic launcher is their combat trick,
and this sucker is big like a tom hank's flick.
It'll catch you if it can and you'll get cast away and thrown.
It'll fling you a green mile
because it's in a league of its own, it's mammoth!
[chris] if you didn't see mammoth in its season debut,
that weapon, looking a little bit different in the 2021 season.
[kenny] yeah, it's made from uhmw plastic.
It's the same type of material huge's wheels are made from.
It bends but does not break
and it had a ton of success in its first fight
against another horizontal spinner in hijinx.
We did some upgrades to the drivetrain on tombstone this year.
It's actually a little bit faster than it was in the past.
So I'm gonna try to use that speed to get past
and get to the side, try to get ahold of some of the tires.
They're just sitting out there waiting to get cut offs
if I'm fast enough to get around them.
Right now we're 0-1.
So, this win is an absolute must for tombstone.
We have to go in there, we have to do our thing and dominate.
And we have to come out of this with a victory. It's really important.
Mammoth is a big stick figure.
There is a lot for him to chop up.
We need to feed as much plastic
and as much steel and as much titanium
into the mouth of their weapon and hope that it breaks
and jams up and flips them on their side and bounces them around the arena.
Our only shot here is to make sure tombstone breaks themselves
and that we outlast him.
[bot] robots activate.
[chris] here's a little factoid for you.
Ricky willems and mammoth have won their first fight
in every season they've competed in,
but they've never won their second.
Will mammoth prove that an unconventional design can dominate?
Or will tombstone remind the field
it is still the baddest blade in the business?
Find out next when battlebots continues.
Welcome back to battlebots
where mammoth is ready to battle the grim reaper himself, tombstone.
Captain ray billings' season could be on the line after an 0-1 start.
Let's get it on!
Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!
We got this. I got this.
Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!
[chris] let the bot battle begin!
[kenny] a huge shot from tombstone!
-Oh, my goodness! -Look at that!
[chris] pieces of mammoth flying everywhere.
Oh, baby!
[kenny] that's a big one.
And the right wheel of mammoth is now hanging on by a thread, chris.
But did tombstone take some damage there too?
It looks like the left side of that bot is no longer working.
[chris] that last exchange, it may have put both these bots on the ropes.
You've gotta show us movement, ray.
Mammoth and tombstone are crab walking now.
Could we actually have a countdown coming?
We've got a simultaneous incapacitation.
They've simultaneously incapacitated.
In ten, nine...
[chris] and now the referee counting out both teams.
Wow!
I'm pretty sure we're both down.
An unbelievable turn of events here tonight.
-Knockout! -Knockout!
[chris] that's gonna be it.
The refs have declared a simultaneous incapacitation.
Kenny, what the heck just happened here?
Well, a simultaneous incapacitation is kind of like a double knockout.
[kenny] so this should go to the judge's scorecard.
Guys, we observe both bots being incapacitated at the same time.
So we're going to the judges.
-Okay. -Okay.
Thank you, gentlemen.
[chris] okay, so there it is.
Kenny, after tombstone launched its all-out nuclear attack out of the gate,
both robots ended up seeing stars
and the teams were counted out simultaneously.
So, break this crazy fight down for us.
[kenny] well, it was that gigantic third exchange
that sent both bots flying across the box.
Mammoth lost a wheel and I thought the fight was over,
but the recoil also sent tombstone
crashing into the arena wall
and then its left side stopped working.
[chris] and how are the judges looking at this type of double knockout?
[kenny] well, they'll score it like they would any other decision.
Mammoth will tally a few aggression points for continuing to attack.
But at the end of the day,
damage is the most heavily weighted category
and tombstone proved
that the king of kinetic energy title is still very fitting.
[chris] let's throw it over to faruq.
The results from the judges are in.
The winner by a unanimous decision is...
Tombstone!
Yeah, baby!
That was good. That was good.
-Ray. -We're back, baby.
That's right, that's right.
Ray, congratulations on your simultaneous incapacitation.
Hey, I got to make it exciting, I guess, you know.
You're all smiles right now, but you had your game face on.
Well, yeah, I had to win this match going into this 0-1,
I mean we're here to win the giant nut,
we're not here to pack up and go home.
So I needed to win this match to get into the tree of 32.
All right, ray, congratulations on win number one this season.
Go celebrate with your family.
Absolutely. We're going to do that. Absolutely.
[chris] you know, there was an awful lot of chirping
about how tombstone may have lost a step
after ray dropped his opener to captain shrederator.
He ain't finished in 2021, bro.
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean he has that knockout power.
He only needs to be perfect for like a quarter of a second.
That is amazing.
Simultaneous incapacitation. Why not?
Okay.
Coming up, the most fearsome flipper in all of canada,
lucky will try to put tantrum in some serious need of universal healthcare.
You'll see that fight when we return on battlebots.
We are back on battlebots.
We got a good one cooking for you as tantrum is inside the box
for the second time this season,
now captained by ginger schmidt and alex grant
taking over for aren hill.
Tantrum first time out won a decision.
Very impressive.
This thing is built like a brick and it's got a punch as well.
[kenny] yeah, that's right. Semi-finalist from last season.
I believe they're a better bot this season.
Extremely durable, very powerful and defensively they are so set.
And for the first time this season we say hello to lucky from canada,
engineered by all around nice guy mark demers.
This old-school pneumatic flipper has been trying to flip itself
out of the middle of the pack for quite a while now.
It's built pretty much like a tank
and that durability has led it to force judges' decisions
in more than half of its battlebots matches.
So it's no tomato can, kenny.
[kenny] yeah, and this year mark says he's brought a secret weapon.
He's decided to turn over the driving reins to matt olson,
one of the top ranked dirt track rc drivers in the world.
Mark said his new wheelman has better fine motor skills
and more precision on the sticks than anyone he's ever seen.
We know all too well that a great driver can make or break any fight.
Let's see how he does.
I think this could be a good, good fight.
Let's check it out. Faruq.
[faruq] in the red square from ottawa, canada.
Come on seven, papa needs a new pair of shoes.
It's lucky!
[chris] canada's own lucky, captained by mark demers
and there's his new driving protege, matt olson.
[kenny] yeah, and let's not forget that mark introduced us
to one of the most sensational drivers in the sport,
gary gin, back in season two.
So he definitely has a knack for sniffing out talent.
Let's see how the rookie driver matt handles the big time.
In the blue square, it's got fist of rage to split your face.
Give it up for tantrum!
[chris] listen to the crowd welcome the fist of fury, tantrum,
coming off a decision win over malice.
This team is just oozing confidence.
So, kenny, what's their ceiling this year?
[kenny] look, they've gone from clunky rookie
to polished semifinalist in the span of three seasons.
And after the smackdown they put on malice,
I don't think there's any reason to doubt
they could contend for a top four spot again.
But experienced teams know not to get ahead of themselves.
In the fight game, you got to take it one match at a time.
Lucky's a flipper robot, so we don't want them to get under us.
In order to avoid this, we're introducing our minibot nugget.
Nugget is gonna drive around the sides of lucky
while we're distracting them from the front,
it's gonna high center lucky by getting all the way underneath
and bringing lucky up off the floor,
so its wheels can't touch the bottom of the box.
And then when lucky is high centered,
tantrum's gonna come in and give them a big punch.
This year we have that upper deck.
If you look at the way lucky's configured,
we're a flipper,
but our configuration tends to go at a certain height and throw at a distance.
So we go about as far forward as we do high.
And I think the... The change in the design
with the upper deck benefits lucky more than any other machine.
We look to deliver on that.
[bot] robots activate.
[chris] and kenny, these two teams actually have a little bit of history.
[kenny] yeah, that's right.
They did meet in an exhibition match back in 2019.
Tantrum was far from the top tier bot it is today,
but lucky was able to get low ground and flip them.
And it took a judge's decision for tantrum to score a win.
[chris] well, let's see if lucky can replicate some of that action here tonight.
Fight! Fight! Fight!
Let's go, tantrum.
Tantrum.
Fight! Fight! Fight!
[chris] let the bot battle begin.
Tantrum quick on the draw.
Wow!
Lucky all over tantrum at the start.
And there's another flip.
[kenny] the canadians are not messing around, chris.
[chris] oh, look at tantrum.
And tantrum might be stuck on the rail.
Uh-oh.
Oh.
It gave a little help but a flip as well.
Wow, the rookie driver actually wants to keep the fight going.
Uh-oh. The nose is bent on lucky.
Look at that. It's pushed back, kenny.
[kenny] up in there, brother.
[chris] tantrum now starting to work lucky right in front of us.
Uh-oh!
[kenny] wow, look at that jump right there from lucky.
[chris] hey, it popped off the floor like bruce lee.
Tantrum turning it on now,
getting underneath lucky pretty much at will.
[kenny] it stripped off a couple of wheels, chris.
[chris] what a comeback by tantrum.
This is a good one so far.
It's lucky is starting to come apart piece by piece and tire by tire.
Yeah, early on it was lucky getting some great flips.
Now getting underneath [inaudible]
and they are picking him apart.
Lucky is down to one tire in the back.
-Can it move? -[kenny] oh, boy.
[chris] oh, it's quivering for life.
You gotta show me you got it.
[kenny] lucky were so dominant at the start but it's about to get counted out, chris.
The ref is issuing a warning.
Ten, nine...
The bot from ottawa, canada, looks like it needs an iv and the countdown has started.
Tantrum comes from behind and gets the ko.
Knockout!
-I got it at the beginning. -Yeah.
Hey, kickass shot guys. That was awesome.
[chris] kenny, I gotta be honest,
I'm not so sure that team lucky could have scripted a better start to this fight.
[kenny] this was an awesome fight.
They were able to get underneath tantrum repeatedly to start this fight,
they were aggressive, they were taking the fight right to him.
And this is exactly what mark wanted here.
So, hard to beat this start,
but then once tantrum got off the rail
and they definitely helped him out there,
but tantrum just went to work, got serious and said,
"all right, we're in this and we're here to knock you out."
[chris] tantrum went after the tires
and at that point even with all the athleticism that lucky showed
throughout the evening, he was just a sitting duck.
[kenny] no question about it.
And I think there's a lot of positives for lucky to take away from this fight.
They showed some good durability
but they were susceptible there to the tires.
And I think that was the difference.
[chris] and here once again the finishing blow as tantrum does in lucky for the evening.
Alex and ginger.
We did it, we did it!
Ginger. Alex.
Were you guys a little nervous when you had that start
because it seemed like you guys were getting flipped?
Yeah, we knew lucky was a strong flipper,
and with flippers you never know what's gonna happen.
So they had us there in the first half.
But we had an amazing driving from dillon and bryan,
our drivers,
and we got them in the second half, no problem.
Alex, how destructive is your bot?
Tantrum last year had very few good hits.
We're seeing more great hits in these last two fights
than the whole season, like, last year combined.
We are ready for the finals.
We're ready for the round of 32.
We're going all the way.
All right.
Ginger, alex, congratulations, off to a 2-0 start this season.
-Thank you. -See you later.
-Awesome fight, guys. -Great job.
It was so fun.
You got us real scared at the beginning.
[chris] now, I'm no fortune teller
but, kenny, something tells me tantrum gets counted out
if lucky doesn't give a little helping nudge there.
Listen, it's possible, you never know.
You can't really see into the future that well.
It seemed like it wasn't moving.
It was kind of at the perfect angle.
But give props to the rookie driver
for keeping the fight going even
if it may have cost lucky the victory.
[chris] coming up next,
battlebots og ghost raptor
welcomes the rookies from team glitch
to the most deadly robot competition on earth.
Stay tuned.
We are back on battlebots
and it has been a scintillating night
of qualifying action here in las vegas.
Coming up next, you'll see ghost raptor
welcome battlebots' rookie glitch to the big leagues.
And later tonight, madman martin mason and mad catter
will try to sink their fangs into jamison go in the fire breathing sawblaze.
Let's take a peek behind the curtain at tonight's main event.
[commentator] huge strike right there from sawblaze.
That opened up a can of fire!
In our first fight we fought minotaur.
[commentator] look at this, taking minotaur, putting him on the upper deck!
It went really well for us.
[commentator] this is unbelievable.
[commentator 2] this is just a master class here from jamison go right now.
It feels amazing to take down such a legendary robot in our first fight.
And now we're taking on mad catter.
[faruq] it's mad catter.
[commentator] the lunatic fringe of robot combat.
Let me tell you about that last fight.
We drove hard.
[commentator] oh.
We hit hard.
[commentator] mad catter is picking yeti apart.
And before you know it, it was all over.
[commentator] yeti is finished.
Martin mason gets the job done.
You had to cart him out of the arena.
They should just start bringing stretchers to all our fights.
Against mad catter,
we're gonna use the same setup we used against minotaur.
Our long fork's on the end,
so we can get underneath them as soon as possible
or to dissuade their weapon from a long distance.
[commentator] here comes sawblaze on the counterattack.
To combat their configuration, we're gonna have to stay nimble.
We don't wanna get hit by that disc.
But we also have to look out for their wedges.
[commentator] massive hit there by mad catter.
This time we're putting on a brand new blade.
We're going to christen its teeth on their chassis.
Let me tell you a little bit about our strategy.
We're running our lightest weapon, french fry.
It still hits incredibly hard.
Oh!
[commentator 2] what a hit by mad catter!
It lets us stay in control.
And that's what this is gonna be all about, control.
Oh, yeah.
Sawblaze is a big fat robot.
It's hard to get around but if you do,
delicious tires waiting for a little tickle from mad catter.
[commentator 2] and, oh, another big shot.
They say there's more than one way to skin a cat.
Well, we've got two.
Slash and burn.
Mad catter, we're coming for you.
You know what, chris, let me tell you something,
let me tell you something about matt catter, okay.
Let me tell you...
Are you cutting your promo right here?
Sorry, I just got into his... Yeah.
[chris] do not miss that insane matchup, folks.
That's tonight's main event and it is just around the corner.
But right now it's rookie glitch
squaring off with ghost raptor, captained by chuck pitzer.
A battlebots' og, chuck made a name for himself
when an upset win over ice wave
sent him to the semifinals all the way back in 2015.
And guess what, he's been chasing the dragon ever since.
[kenny] no doubt chuck has been at this game for a long time
and he's looking to edge a few more meaningful fights
into the battlebots history books with ghost raptor.
Chuck's an excellent builder.
Let's see if he's got a few more left in.
He's taking on a rookie robot named glitch
engineered by kyle miller.
Kyle's a 19-year-old college student
who was still coloring outside the lines
when chuck was blazing his path
in combat robotics all those years ago.
[kenny] kyle is definitely representing a new generation of builders
and a new generation of robots.
Glitch is an incredibly sleek,
ground scraping bot that features an omni wheel drive
similar to shatter's
that should allow it to counteract that gyroscopic effect
of its massive eggbeater weapon.
Can't wait to see how it does here.
[chris] and how about this,
just moments ago our cameras caught a panicked team glitch
trying to pull a stuck screw out of their frame
while they were changing configurations.
The team was actually in jeopardy of missing the match.
But who stepped in to help?
None other than the veteran chuck pitzer from ghost raptor.
The man wanted to fight, what can you say?
Now we're being told the rookie is ready to rock.
Let's see what you got. Faruq.
In the red square from san jose, california,
the most dangerous raptor since vince carter, it's ghost raptor.
[chris] love it. Oh, look him.
Pitzer with the mohawk.
-[chris] yes. -[kenny] wow.
[chris] yes, the front man.
[kenny] I love it.
[chris] I don't care about the robot.
I can't wait to see what's on the b side of the album.
[kenny] wow, look at that.
And his bot has a few new upgrades this year as well.
The housing is entirely custom.
They added fire and chuck says it's running better than ever.
In the blue square from berkeley, california,
he came from a college town to beat you down.
It's glitch!
[chris] so after a bit of a scare,
kyle miller and glitch make their way to the box
with a huge sigh of relief and an even bigger weapon.
[kenny] yeah, that 58-pound eggbeater drum
can reach the maximum allowed 250 miles per hour tip speed,
which means it should pack a serious punch.
They've been testing it repeatedly.
But I can't say it enough,
you just don't know how your robot
is going to perform until you step inside the battle box.
We're fighting glitch.
It doesn't seem like a really intimidating robot.
I think it's such a big robot that we can maneuver around it.
Their bite area is kind of limited,
you have to be right up into it
to be able to get bit by their big drum spinner.
And if they have that wide of a surface area,
it's gonna be tough for them to get in on me.
Ghost raptor spins in a counterclockwise direction.
What we want to do is hit our weapon
right into their main middle assembly.
Hopefully that will be able to pop their weapon or break their weapon hinge.
I think there'll be great hits, big sparks, boom.
[bot] robots activate.
[chris] chuck pitzer desperate to start his season with a victory
facing off against a rookie team of college kids
trying to make a name for themselves.
The fights when battlebots continues.
We are right back in the action here on battlebots
where veteran chuck pitzer is ready to welcome 19-year-old rookie kyle miller
and the rest of his team to the big leagues.
It's ghost raptor versus glitch right now.
Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!
[chris] let the bot battle begin!
Glitch on the attack.
Spinning up that eggbeater drum.
Hovering around ghost raptor, those omni wheels lining up at an angle to attack.
Oh, it lands a shot.
Able to get underneath ghost raptor there.
[kenny] you can see how excited team glitch is
for their first taste of battlebots.
Ghost raptor has got glitch near the upper deck.
Oh, man.
[kenny] chuck pitzer had glitch right where he wanted it,
but this time the lift and dropped his weapon
right into that eggbeater drum.
[chris] and ghost raptor's spinner does not seem to be working, kenny.
[kenny] yeah, it may be all lifter for ghost raptor from here on out.
But now glitch looks a little punch struck, chris.
That weapon is clearly working okay
but they are having some control issues.
[chris] yeah, it sure looks like glitch is having drive issues
and now they're caught in the corner.
But as long as that weapon continues to work,
I don't think they mind that ghost raptor's doing a lot of the heavy lifting.
Can you move?
It's not moving, I'm just moving away.
[kenny] but it looks like glitch may be stuck on the rail now.
[chris] oh, no.
Okay, I'm gonna have to count you out if you can't get control.
[kenny] that bot is so low to the ground,
it's wedged itself underneath the wall.
[chris] and how about this, ghost raptor frees the rookie.
You've gotta to do something, chuck.
[chris] so chuck pitzer helps the team get ready for the fight
and then unsticks them here during the match.
[kenny] this guy's karma is through the roof, chris.
[chris] but here's ghost raptor slamming glitch into the wall.
Honeymoon is definitely over, folks,
and the fight is back on.
Ghost raptor, keep in mind,
it is without its primary weapon.
Glitch's eggbeater drum however still going strong, kenny.
[kenny] but needs to get some more offense going for the judges, chris.
[chris] absolutely.
As for ghost raptor, a question here.
Can it find a way to take advantage of glitch's lack of control here?
Maybe get that lifter involved,
maybe flip the rookie, glitch's all over the place.
[kenny] glitch having some steering issues out there
and not sure those omni wheels are working the way they want it.
[chris] okay, under a minute to go.
And despite the loss of that primary weapon,
ghost raptor's still very much alive in this fight,
it continues to engage.
That's a good shot again by glitch.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
[chris] ghost raptor though has no problem working its way back over.
[kenny] glitch looking like it's frozen solid now though, chris.
The rookies may be in trouble.
Ghost raptor probing for signs of life.
-Uh-oh. -Oh.
Uh-oh.
-Oh, nice. -Big hit.
[chris] best sequence-- and oh, some things have come apart on ghost raptor.
[kenny] glitch just rose from the dead, chris, and it looks angry.
I'm not sure ghost raptor knows what hit it.
Glitch starting to find its training wheels.
Under ten to go. It'll go the distance.
Can glitch lay down one more shot to impress the judges?
[chris] and this one will indeed go to the scorecard.
Kenny, chuck pitzer clearly wanted to fight
but he made a costly unforced error early in this match.
[kenny] no doubt.
Chuck had glitch pinned up against the screws
but mistimed this lift right here
and dropped his weapon
directly into that deadly eggbeater drum.
[chris] that shot took out ghost raptor's spinner
and put it behind the eight ball.
But from that point on glitch started, well, glitching.
Yeah, glitch was having major trouble
with either its drive or its omni wheels throughout this fight.
Ghost raptor even had to help unstick it at one point.
That lack of control is going to cost it on the scorecards.
[chris] but just when it looked like glitch was ready to throw in the towel,
it sprang to life,
landed a huge shot and gave the judges something to think about.
Let's see how they break this one down.
Here's faruq.
The results from the judges are in.
The winner by unanimous decision is...
Glitch!
[chris] kyle.
Hey, kyle, you can breathe now, it's good.
Not yet.
How nervous were you during the decision-making process by the judges?
Extremely nervous.
Ghost raptor had a lot of control and a lot of aggression
and they kept us in this fight, to be honest.
We had some ground clearance issues and they kept it going.
So we're really grateful for that.
What was the strategy heading into this fight against ghost raptor?
We just wanted to go weapon on weapon,
knock it out from the start and luckily that worked.
After that, we didn't really have a plan.
I just hit them as much as possible.
Kyle, were you more excited with the way your weapon performed
or were you more disappointed in the wheels?
Definitely excited about the weapon.
The wheels, I think, actually did great.
It was more the wedges getting stuck underneath.
So once we grind that down, we'll be like a lot better for the next matches.
All right. Well, congratulations on getting win number one
in your battlebots career.
Thank you.
All right. So kenny, if you're glitch, you gotta be feeling great.
I mean the robot didn't run perfectly,
but you will take a win out of the box.
[kenny] yeah. And these guys were so nervous before the fight.
The fact they can get that new technology out there to go out there
and do what it did against the og of battlebots is impressive.
[chris] and by the way, chuck pitzer,
it's not always easy to go over and say,
"yeah, of course, I'm gonna go help out my opponent."
because you only have a few matches to impress, you know,
the selection committee and make your stand.
I think for him to do that should really be applauded.
Without a doubt.
And listen, you know, obviously he wanted to get the win out there,
but his other goals was to go the full three minutes
and to have a fun fight.
So he did that. That was awesome.
[chris] all right, coming up, the moment we've all been waiting for.
Martin mason is ready to run through a wall to get this fight started.
It's mad catter.
It's sawblaze.
Who will emerge from the wreckage 2-0?
It's the main event and it's next.
Martin mason is the mad professor.
You listen to your brother.
I really wanted to know if martin mason orders pizza like that.
You know what... I'm not just a builder,
I'm a teacher of physics and engineering at mt. San antonio college.
While I'm here at battlebots, I'm still teaching my classes.
But when I got a fight like today, I gotta do it remote.
Hey, folks, welcome to class today.
I'm so glad to see all of you.
My team here at battlebots is made entirely of current and past students.
The things I do here give me an opportunity
to bring them some real world examples
of what they're learning in their physics class.
Great job today, guys.
You really nailed it in class.
And I hope I can do that well on the fight tonight.
Yeah, pizza.
Yeah, I need ten large cheese pizzas delivered to battlebots
as soon as possible. All right.
We are back on battlebots in time right now for our final event of the night.
And what a main event it is.
A pair of bots that are 1-0 so far.
Sawblaze and mad catter equally impressive in their first round matchups.
Jamison go had to go the distance but took care of minotaur.
And when you talk to jamison, it's very simple.
If we don't win the giant nut this year, we have failed.
[kenny] I love that intensity.
[chris] he's always like that.
He's been like that since day one.
This is another bot that continues to improve, continues to get better.
This is without a doubt the best sawblaze we've ever seen.
And you know they'll have to be at their best
if they're going to take on the nutty professor himself,
martin mason and mad catter.
What a performance in its 2021 season opener.
It knocked out one of the most durable bots out there,
one of the toughest bad boys as well in yeti.
Martin mason, we love the shtick, the pose to the camera,
the whole wwe thing.
This is a damn good bot, man.
[kenny] I mean it's a great bot.
We keep being surprised by how well-engineered mad catter is.
But it's time to just accept the fact that martin and his team
have put together a contender for the giant nut.
[chris] and when you look at the numbers,
how do these two killer machines compare, kenny?
[kenny] well, you can see even though mad catter is using their smallest weapon,
that disc still packs a massive punch compared to jamison's hammer saw.
But one of the biggest advantages sawblaze has in this fight
is its powerful drivetrain.
To win, they're going to need to dictate the pace
of play and push mad catter around the box.
All that horsepower should help them do that.
Should be a ton of fun.
Faruq, take it away.
[faruq] ladies and gentlemen, are you ready?
It's time for the main event.
In the red square,
this bot's engineer is a college dropout like kanye.
In the box, he's heartless and cooks opponents like entrees.
Now he's watching the throne and his ambitions are bigger.
He won't settle for silver or bronze.
He's a gold digger.
This bot is back and he's in his prime.
And yo, I'mma let you finish,
but sawblaze is the greatest robot of all time.
Give it up for sawblaze!
[chris] here comes team sawblaze in their fifth battlebots season.
Kenny, coming off a convincing decision win
over minotaur in their first fight of the year.
[kenny] that's right, chris, and something else to keep an eye on
are those beefy forks on sawblaze.
Jamison wants to use them to get under mad catter
and then ram them into the wall, screws and the upper deck.
He used them to perfection against minotaur.
Let's see if he can repeat that against a similarly violent vertical spinner.
In the blue square,
this bot has multiple weapons and they've always got a plan.
Plus, a trash talking builder who sounds like the macho man.
But they ain't snapping into slim jims, that's not what they do.
If they're breaking something in half, it's definitely you.
Oh, yeah.
It's mad catter!
[chris] martin mason, the professor and his students.
Oh, mad catter always looking great.
Kenny, tell us about the weapon.
[kenny] this is french fry, their lightest vertical disc.
It can reach top speed in 2.2 seconds
and mad catter is gonna need that fast spin up time
against a bot as agile as sawblaze.
[chris] look at this, kenny, martin mason is working the crowd.
He's the man.
Are you ready? Are you ready?
[kenny] did anybody play to the crowd like martin mason?
I love it.
[kenny] this is gonna be a fun one, chris.
Go, catter!
Catter, looking good!
[chris] the winner of this match will move to 2-0
with the best strength of schedule in the entire field
and could be on track for a top seed in this year's world championship tournament.
There's mad catter's flame throwing minibot gassy cat.
We'll see if it can get in on the action as well.
[bot] robots activate.
[bot] red team, ready.
Let's burn, baby.
[bot] blue team, ready.
Let's cook this cat.
Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!
[chris] let the bot battle begin.
Oh, a big time box rush by mad catter.
[kenny] maybe trying to defend those forks in front of sawblaze but...
[chris] matt catter gets caught.
And, oh, no!
What a hit, right into the side of the upper deck
and then into the screws.
Watch out, let's go!
[kenny] this is what we're talking about.
Once they get underneath you, you are in big time trouble.
Jamison go taking full advantage of it.
Look at it with that hammer saw on top.
I think he just destroyed the lifter off of mad catter, chris.
Oh, man, that is a real problem for the college kids.
[chris] and you see the length on those forks from sawblaze.
That primary weapon of mad catter doesn't have the reach.
[kenny] and if the hammer saw wasn't enough, a real hammer,
100-pound pulverizer is doing some damage too.
It's amazing how fast that hammer of sawblaze gets going.
Guessing cat is seeing stars now and sawblaze finishes the job.
The only way that mad catter's gonna get to sawblaze
and get around to the side and maybe attack one of those tires,
but jamison go just so fast.
Mad catter hanging in though.
This is one tough robot.
[chris] oh, absorbing punishment but just keeps coming back for more.
And now it's put on its heels.
Ready for this, kelvin!
Mad catter getting put on the screws
and we've got something smoking inside the battle box.
Oh, my goodness.
How do you like that?
-How do you like that? -This is crazy.
[chris] the flame of sawblaze breathing heat on mad catter.
And now trying to establish its dominance
kind of like a rottweiler, kenny.
Oh, this is just nasty.
Sawblaze continuing to [inaudible]
he's gonna put him up on the upper deck.
[kenny] this is just pure brutality here from sawblaze.
[chris] the battle box looks like a haunted house.
How much longer can mad catter actually survive this assault?
Just chewing him up.
Whoa!
They've got parts everywhere.
The top armor on the mad catter
is just lying right there in front of us.
Holy smokes. Let's go for a ride, big boy.
30 seconds still to go.
Can mad catter even make it?
[kenny] wow.
[chris] sheer domination from jamison go.
Do you have a heart, jamison?
Of course, he doesn't.
It's a black heart. It's dark. It's dirty.
[chris] oh, my goodness.
[kenny] oh, no.
[chris] stop, stop, he's already dead.
The countdown has started and finally sawblaze backs off
and it improves to 2-0.
Good fight, guys.
What?
[chris] this was sheer dominance by sawblaze from the get-go, kenny.
Yeah, both of these robots were just unbelievable.
But again, just sawblaze just had too much firepower.
And again their ability to consistently get underneath their opponents
was the difference here.
[kenny] it is so impressive because once sawblaze gets ahold of you,
you're pretty much at their mercy.
[chris] yeah, exactly. And they have no mercy.
These guys were going after it,
they were looking for the knockout from the start of this fight.
[kenny] that hammer saw is nasty.
And then few drivers utilize the battle box
and the weapons at their disposal better than jamison go.
Right. Sawblaze in past seasons they... They had the driving,
they had the ability to get underneath you,
they had the power,
but their primary weapon was never this dangerous.
Now that they have that dialed in,
they have to be one of the favorites right now.
And, boy, did they utilize the upper deck to perfection as well.
They utilized the sides of it, the screws as well and got the w.
Jamison go, is this sawblaze's year or what?
What do you think?
Oh, yeah, okay, you asked me first, that's fair.
I think it's sawblaze's year. What do you guys think?
Yeah, baby!
Jamison, all jokes aside, it looks like you've taken this weapon
to an entirely different level.
Yeah.
I mean, we've been working on this for so many seasons
that now we got the knockout power,
we've got the durability and now we've got the ground game so far.
So, we're feeling really good about that one.
We're feeling good about our chances.
We're gonna keep going.
Jamison, I know that the giant nut is the ultimate goal.
But, of course, you also wanna be the number one seed heading into the round of 32.
The selection committee is closely watching this.
What do you have to say to them?
What do you think?
Jamison go, congratulations.
Sawblaze 2-0 on the young season.
-Thank you very much. -Slash and burn.
Slash and burn.
[chris] martin mason.
Oh, yeah, I'm still here.
I'll tell you what, you know there is no shame in losing like that.
That was incredible.
They drove incredibly.
They hit incredibly.
You know, anybody who watched that saw,
those were two incredible robots.
Kudos to them, man. They brought it.
You know what, but you saw what we can do.
We're going to see him again going for the giant nut, man.
That was amazing. No shame, folks.
Amazing fight.
Thank you to them for bringing it.
Wow, thank you.
Martin, what is it like when you're watching your robot
just being carried from rail to rail to the upper deck?
You know what, things can change in a split second.
And that's the thing about this sport.
These kids they think so fast, things move so quick, it can change in an instant.
But you know what, we're gonna keep coming back.
We got a little bit of repair to do.
And, you know, you're gonna see us again.
This isn't over.
Martin, you're 1-1, you're still alive, man. Great fight.
Thank you. Thank you, folks.
[chris] well, as you can tell, jamison go of sawblaze
is super excited but he will not be happy until he wins the giant nut.
I know it's still early, but he might be very happy here in the 2021 season.
He was a beast out there.
Definitely established himself as one of the favorites.
[chris] and two other teams that had great runs in 2020,
tantrum, of course, made it all the way to the semifinals, they're 2-0,
ribbot, which made it all the way to the quarterfinals this season though, also 2-0.
A pair of teams you gotta keep your eye on.
Yeah, no doubt. Ribbot, two wins, two knockouts.
Very impressive.
And tantrum right back to their winning ways.
Season is just getting rolling.
For faruq, our bot whisper,
pete, my man kenny florian,
I am chris rose, we'll see you next time here on battlebots.