BattleBots

Robots, activate.

hey!

Hey, everybody, and welcome to BattleBots.

It is the most popular television show

in the coveted 18 to 34 male robot demographic.

I'm Chris Rose, and I'm joined by a man

who's an expert in all types of combat.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay thai kickboxing and total robot carnage.

Please say hello to UFC legend, Kenny Florian!

thanks, Chris, and buckle up,

because at this point in the season,

it's time to find out what these robots are made of.

The winners tonight will build some major momentum

as we head towards the world championship tournament,

and the losers will have to wonder

if their bot can be renovated or if it's a total teardown.

that's right, and taking a look at tonight's fight card,

we have several 1-0 teams with a chance to separate themselves

from the pack here in the qualifiers.

That includes the super fly, flywheel flipper, blip,

a rookie bot, sporting some game-changing new technology

and captained by rising superstar, Aren Hill.

He'll be facing the ever-stout overhaul and Charles Guan,

who's driving angry after an opening loss to Ribbot.

also on the green side of the 1-0 grass,

the slithery slayer Copperhead

and its unstoppable drum will attempt

to swallow whole the wombo-combo warrior, Fusion,

with its dual primary weapons.

We've got two bots, loaded with three sticks of dynamite.

and in a main event, I'm calling celestial,

because two stars are about to collide.

It's Whiplash taking on Skorpios.

Matty Vasquez, one of the greatest control drivers

in the history of the sport,

will need his evasive maneuvers working overtime,

against the upgraded stinger of Skorpios,

led by the always aggressive, Zach Lytle.

It's a chess match from hell

where bots don't get checked, they get wrecked.

oh-ho-ho!

but kicking off the action tonight,

we've got a cold-blooded matchup,

quite literally, as Bloodsport faces Subzero.

It's the sanguine spinner versus the frozen flipper,

a desperation matchup destined for destruction.

Thank goodness the battlebox is bulletproof.

Dude, it is going to be a crazy, crazy night.

Are you ready to get it started?

- I am always ready for it. - You guys ready to get it started?

we don't like to disappoint our fans.

Faruq, do your thing.

Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready?

It's robot fighting time!

in the red square,

this bot comes to us from Massachusetts, so you know what that means.

it's got a wicked overhead spinner, kid.

You can park your car in Harvard yard,

but this bot will leave you marred and scarred.

It's Bloodsport!

captain Justin Marple there, leading out his team.

Kenny, Bloodsport went undefeated in the qualifiers last season,

but took an unlikely knockout loss to Whiplash in their opener

this time around. Looks like we're seeing a different weapon

on Bloodsport tonight.

How you like them apples?

I like it, Chris.

Bloodsport wants to get back to its winning ways.

So they're going with their classic tribar spinner from last season,

which has the most reach.

I love this one. This one is just pure evil.

Look at that thing.

it's nasty.

in the blue square, from Dallas, Texas,

think beating him will be freeze-y?

Think again, there's snow way you're going to make it out in one piece.

It's Subzero!

yeah! Battlebots, chill.

Thanks to Logan Davis, the man with the...

Tool chest over there, escorting Subzero to the box.

Its flipper was pretty much a non-factor

in an unaired fight against shatter.

Subzero got chewed up in that match,

and we know from Logan, when his flipper doesn't get fed,

it starts getting angry!

yeah, he's got a new front wedge there.

They're hoping to deflect that energy off of Bloodsport

and hope that it kind of kills itself.

The Subzero is a, is a good flipper,

but they have a lot of juicy spots, they have exposed wheels.

They have exposed wedges, and I think that's going to go really in our favor.

We spent two days really tuning this thing in

so we feel better than ever right now going into this fight.

For this matchup, we're going to use our longest weapon

with the most reach and most bite,

and we're hoping that'll go into our advantage

for clipping edges or wedges and wheels and whatever else we can hit on the robot.

There's no room for error for this match.

We've got to win it.

We're definitely worried.

We think they're also a bit worried.

We saw before in their previous match against Whiplash,

they were having some self-righting issues.

Going up against a flipper, that's...

That's got to have them a bit spooked.

I feel like if we can take a few hits on the chin,

we could possibly win this match.

We're both 0-1 right now,

and this is so important for each of us

to try to get this first win of the season.

Either it's going to be a bloodbath

or we're going to find we got ice in our veins.

Robots, activate.

and parked behind Subzero on the ledge is the drone spitfire

that'll be run by Logan Davis's dad, Brady.

For more on Logan's opponent tonight,

we bring in the third member of our broadcast team,

the bot whisperer, Pete Abrahamson.

Pete, what do you got on Bloodsport's weapon choice?

Well, what I got is they decided to go back to their OG blade.

It creates a lot more engagement

and gives them a much harder hit.

But what's really been important is over the past couple of days,

they've been in the test box over ten times,

really trying to work out any of the bugs they were having.

And so they are ready to not .

I probably shouldn't have said that.

Red Team, ready?

Blue Team, ready?

Let's do it, let's do it.

Bloodsport and Subzero,

so critical to avoid that 0-2 hole.

We got a high stakes matchup to kick off the night.

Let the bot battle begin!

Nice box rush by Subzero, but Bloodsport is spun up.

Lands a shot to the wedge,

but Subzero goes face first into Bloodsport

and bot parts go flying all over.

Subzero able to get underneath Bloodsport.

You see Logan Davis mistiming that flip right there.

Bloodsport speeding up.

Lands the shot to the front of Subzero with that heavy tribar spinner.

Subzero trying to stay squared up to Bloodsport

and protect its exposed wheels.

here comes Bloodsport. Oh!

Subzero tries to flip and a huge missed opportunity there, Kenny.

yeah. Had him up on the flipper

and just couldn't pull the trigger in time.

about 45 seconds in.

Subzero misses the flip and misses again.

Bloodsport continuing to stay aggressive here.

That's a good one.

he got the timing right on that one.

and Bloodsport trying to get that weapon back to full speed

and do some damage.

nice shot by Bloodsport.

Subzero looking a little woozy.

something you always have to keep your eye on with Subzero, their drive issues.

yeah, and they're slowing down big-time right now.

Bloodsport chipping away bit by bit.

yeah, there's another shot to the front side.

Uh-oh.

Subzero triggers the flipper, but it's Bloodsport that's in control now.

oh, this is not good here.

uh-oh, we got some smoke here

in the first fight of the night.

Get that. Back wheel!

Subzero is trying to work its way back,

but you can see that left back tire is not hitting the surface.

Bloodsport daring Subzero to move.

Oh! Are you kidding me?

that tire went right by your head!

unbelievable!

nice job, Bloodsport.

- Watch out, Chris. - yeah, thanks, Kenny.

What is going on in here?

oh, this is over, Chris.

it is. The countdown has started. Bloodsport.

- And now, - what did we do to you, man? - yeah.

- What did Chris do to you? - Three, two, one.

Knockout!

- Yeah! - Whoo!

Justin Marple, all smiles as he should be,

getting that first win of the year.

Okay.

I think we lost a motor pretty early on.

well, Kenny, Logan Davis had a clear plan

that he simply could not execute.

yeah, Logan stayed aggressive,

but he just couldn't time that flipper correctly.

For most of the match, Bloodsport was playing with fire,

going head first into Subzero,

but Logan only managed this one flip here, just couldn't take advantage.

and then Bloodsport started to go to work, chipping away piece by piece.

Justin Marple, eventually,

found the angle and landed this crippling body shot,

and that seemed to do in the drive.

And then to make Matters worse,

they started picking off tires

and they were flying right by your head, Chris.