BattleBots (2015–…): Season 6, Episode 6 - Bigger Than Bots - full transcript

Robots, activate.

Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.

Hey, everyone and
welcome to battlebots,

the sport that
puts the robot in,

"hey, look at that robot beat
the crap out of that other robot."

I'm chris rose, and
I'm joined, as always,

by ufc legend and
our fight analyst,

say hello to kenny florian.

Thanks, chris, we're in the thick of
the qualifiers and I got to tell you,

I am pumped after last week's
battles, I got so hyped up,

I ran out to my local best buy



and challenged a vacuum
cleaner to a fistfight.

So how'd that go?

I lost by decision.

I'm guessing you mean their decision
to have you removed by security.

Suck master 5000.

Don't get cocky,

I own a lot of disguises and I
will be back to finish what I started.

Okay, speaking of disguises,

as we get further into
the qualifying rounds,

we're starting to get an idea of
which bots are sheep in wolves clothing

and which might actually have
what it takes to go the distance.

And in a season where each team
gets a maximum of just three fights

to impress the
selection committee,

you cannot take a day off.



And tonight's fight card
features a handful of elite teams

desperate to prove
they belong in the top 32.

That includes stars with
their backs against the wall,

like the 0-1 minotaur.

Daniel freitas and the crew have
traveled all the way from brazil

on a mission to hoist
the giant nut this season.

Tonight, hungry rookie dragon slayer
will look to stop them in their tracks.

And we'll see
another mythical monster yeti

also try to secure its
first win of the season.

Co-captains greg gibson
and christian karlberg

know this could
be win or go home,

as they take on a buck with a drum spinner
even bigger than theirs, pain train.

And at the top
of the marquee tonight,

sit two of the most popular
teams in all of robot combat.

After decimating
their first opponent,

will bales at hypershock will look
to put one of the greatest of all time,

donald hutson and lock-jaw
into a serious 0-2 hole.

This is a must-win match for
lock-jaw and for fan-favorite hypershock,

a victory could mean that this
season it's more than just a pretty face,

it's the contender.

And speaking of contenders,

we kick off the night with
a showdown between a bot

that could survive
a nuclear bomb

and another that
hits as hard as one.

Black dragon squares off
with victor soto and rotator.

They're both 1-0,

get ready for some
serious fireworks.

You ready?

- I'm ready.
- I'm ready.

You guys ready?

Faruq, take it away.

Ladies and gentlemen,
are you ready?

It's robot fighting time.

In the red square,
this bot might be golden,

but it won't thank
you for being a friend,

it'll straight up shake you
until you're meeting your end.

It's not old, it's classic.

It's ready to fight.

It's straight up immortal,
just like betty white.

It's rotator.

Hey, any time you can
work betty white into the equation,

you're all right with me.

And here they come, rotator,

you know, kenny, rotator
looked as destructive as ever

in its decision win over kraken.

But victor soto was happy about
winning the control points in that one.

Yeah, rotator has always had

one of the most devastating
horizontal spinners,

but the wedge lets victor added to its
backside this season are game changers.

They really help
him control the fight,

and tonight he'll use those to
try and get under black dragon,

then whip around
for a spin attack.

In the blue square, this
robot comes to us from brazil.

He has only two mottos,
to crush and to kill.

So before you step in the
box, you better update your will.

Introducing the tightest feature
high-speeding, wire-eating, fire-breathing,

entire reason why you're
bleeding, black dragon.

Well, we've got two
teams from brazil tonight,

but only one has the lucky duck,

black dragon took down
icewave in its first fight.

Kenny, this fire-breather
is tough to kill.

Yeah, it has a
powerful egg-beater drum,

but their game is to
outlast their opponent.

They've won fights
completely engulfed in flames.

The key tonight, though,
could be that wedge.

It has a slope and hardness

that were specifically designed
to take a hit from rotator.

The brazilians are
ready for this fight, chris.

Rotator is as ready as it
can be against black dragon,

one of the unique
things about rotator

is that we use both the front
and the back of the robot,

so we're going to have
these forks in the back.

I'm going to start off basically
trying to get underneath them to see

if we can even get
underneath their plow.

If not, attack with the front, see if we
can actually damage some parts, bend them

and then create that clearance,

so that we can get underneath
them and control them.

I want to get all the points basically,
aggression, control, damage.

I want to get it all.

Over there is a really reliable
bot, will be a three minutes fight.

I want to go after
their weapons.

I know that's
where I want to hit.

I know that's where I
can handle the energy.

So we will then just fight because we
have a special wedge just made for rotator.

And we'll try the most
to control the fights,

counter their weapon and
push them around the arena.

We have a motto that you're
the best and destroy the rest.

But now, rotator is the rest.

Robots, activate.

For more on the crew that's from miami,
florida, we bring in our bot whisperer,

pete, what do you have?

Well, you know, there's always
some drama that happens in the pits,

and even a pro team like victor's
can sometimes succumb to it.

They're not immune.

Victor showed up here,

all of his lithium battery
packs were puffed up,

which means they were no good.

He couldn't use any.

He didn't have enough spares,
because all of those were puffed.

So team mallis loaned
them a complete set of packs,

which they ran
in their last fight.

But the new packs
have showed up,

they've put connectors on
and they are ready to go.

So they'll be huffing
and puffing, perhaps...

You don't want to puffing with lithium
battery packs, really bad for you to puff.

Red team, ready?

Let's do it, man.

Do it, even the
little guy packs a punch.

Blue team, ready?

Let's go.

The brazilians
versus the guy in gold,

the winner will move
to 2-0 on the season.

Let the bot battle begin.

Here comes that flame.

Oh-oh, rotator gets underneath,
the brazilian's right out of the gate.

That is a bad news
for black dragon, kenny.

We know victor was
focused on winning the ground war,

and it looks like
he's in great shape.

Oh, rotator lands and power shots
to that custom front wedge of black dragon.

There goes victor with
that forks first driving technique.

Let's see if he can do it again,

those forks are doing a
great job of getting underneath.

Yeah.

Trying to work from the side and stay away
from the mouth of that weapon and rotator,

oh, did a nice job getting
under black dragon momentarily.

Black dragon just needs one good
fight with that egg-beater weapon, chris.

Black dragon's got rotator
against the rail, breaths a little fire.

Rotator lands a jab and gets
itself out of a dangerous spot there.

Both drivers being
very precise so far.

Yeah, they both have a lot of
respect for each other's primary weapons

and both trying to get...

Oh, black dragon,
right back at it.

That was some...

black dragon,
now we got a ball of flame.

Wow.

Kenny, it's black dragon
on fire on the right, right side.

Yeah...

we've seen him on flames before,

but this is not a good
time to do it... Off rotator.

And rotator had to be working off
at the side there for a segment now,

we've seen it before, we
mentioned it in the pre-fight,

black dragon's been
able to work while on fire.

Oh.

Can they continue
to do so here tonight?

Well, we all know
about the durability of rotator.

Can black dragon match it here?

Oh, big shot there by rotator.

Black dragon's weapon
no longer spinning.

Oh.

Can he make it another minute
and force a judge's decision?

Now, it's become a bit of a
pushing match here for black dragon.

Just follow the smoke if you
can't find it, follow the smoke.

Black dragon
shadowing rotator now,

preventing from doing any more
damage with that undercutting blade.

Closing in on a 45-second mark

and somehow black dragon had
been able to do it again, kenny.

Yeah, they're doing
an amazing job with that wedge,

sticking it out
here, staying alive.

Victor soto
pinning black dragon,

showing excellent control here.

Look for victor to tail whip
the brazilians on the release.

Release. -Release.

There's the release
and there's the tail whip,

20 seconds left
to go in this one.

Oh.

Black dragon
getting underneath rotator,

but that undercutting
blade won't stop spinning.

Rotator continuing to
dish out the damage.

Yeah. Rotator attacking
from above like an attack helicopter.

Five seconds.

Oh, that's a big hit.

Somehow black dragon made it
the last 90 seconds once while on fire.

I know which team I'm
inviting to my house for the barbecue,

because those guys can party it
up when there is smoke and flame.

Wow!

So this fire fest is now in
the hands of the judges and, kenny,

don't tell ja rule,

but we're going to let the
crew clean up this mess.

It will have the decision
to this bot burner,

when we return on battlebots.

Welcome back to battlebots,

where rotator and black dragon are awaiting
a decision after their insane fight

that saw the brazilians on
fire for more than 90 seconds.

The smoke is still getting
cleared out, but we're being told

that the judges are close to
handing out their scorecards.

All three former
battlebots participants,

derek young, jason
bardis, lisa winter,

scoring on an 11-point system,

up to five points can
be awarded for damage,

three for aggression
and three for control.

You know kenny, here at
battlebots, the lower bot usually wins,

and rotator proved it was the
low man right out of the gate.

Yeah, rotator using its ground scraping
forks to get underneath black dragon

and drive it into
the pulverizer,

then start going to
work with the undercutter

and that shot right there set
the brazilians up in flames.

And I feel like I've seen
this movie somewhere before,

but black dragon managed
to put up one heck of a fight,

even though it was spewing smoke
and flames for almost two minutes.

Now, this is probably the
crowning shot of the night

for black dragon to
get rotator on its side.

But victor soto did regain control
and he delivered down the stretch.

Just an amazing all-around
performance by the veteran here,

showing great control
by pinning black dragon,

then attacking
with the undercutter,

he managed to disable
black dragon's weapon

and really dominate this fight.

Rotator looking to move to 2-0,

black dragon as
tough as they come,

let's send it over to
faruq with the decision.

The results from
the judges are in.

We have a unanimous decision...

And your winner is...

Rotator.

Great play, guys.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Victor.

- Hey.
- Hey.

Congratulations, usually when
you set your opponent on fire,

you're like, "huh,
okay, this will be easy."

for almost two minutes, that
thing ran while there were smoke,

how impressed were you?

Very impressive.

Black dragon is a great
machine, very reliable.

I was hoping for a knockout,
but couldn't get there.

You know that was to be
expected. Great machine.

But we were able
to get some control,

get underneath them and I
guess we had some damage.

I couldn't see really clear
between the smoke and all.

All right. So what is a
2-0 start mean for you?

It's huge. We've never been
2-0 before, so this is fantastic.

Confidence is going
through the roof.

We're trusting the robot more.

We're learning more about it.

We're going to keep improving.

All right, victor.
Well, congratulations.

We'll see you next time.

- Thank you.
- Great fight. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Let's keep the carnage going
and jump right into fight number two

and the international
theme continues.

Canada and south korea
take center stage this time.

That's where our next two
teams, lucky and blade hail from.

Let's start with mark demers
and that flipper known as lucky.

In their first fight,

they went toe-to-toe with a
semifinalist from last season, tantrum

and new driver matt olsen.

He looks like he
may be the real deal.

Yeah, there's a reason he's known as
one of the top rc car drivers in the world.

This rookie came out the first 30
seconds of his battlebots career

and had a top tier
opponent on the ropes.

He actually could have
let tantrum get counted out,

but he kept the fight going and
showed some serious competitive spirit.

I'm excited to see what this kid
does in his second fight, chris.

And when it comes to blade,

the bot known overseas
as the korean tombstone

did go three minutes in a very
tough matchup against scorpios,

but they did not live
up to the hype, kenny.

Yeah, captain cheog gyu hwang

needs to show us
something in this fight.

I've seen them dish out tons of
damage in international matches.

Maybe it was jet lag,

maybe it was just being under
the battlebots lights for the first time.

Either way, we need to
see that weapon spin up

and do some serious
damage tonight.

Somebody's getting
win number one tonight.

Faruq.

In the red square
from ottawa, canada,

here comes the
canuck with all the luck,

it's lucky.

Team lucky, almost
looking like the canadian flag kenny.

And going against
the horizontal spinner tonight.

How do they match up?

Well, you can see they've got that
ar-500 armor that goes all the way around,

lucky this time.

They've seen how powerful
blade has been overseas,

but lucky should be
able to get under them.

And if they can trap blade in a
short corner and they spin up,

matt olsen could
have a field day.

In the blue square from seoul,
south korea, ready to mash your unit.

Give it up for blade.

Such a cool looking
robot, and once again,

the driver is ju sangeun
on the right there.

She's actually a
professional violinist,

so she's used to performing
under pressure, kenny.

Well, all eyes are on her,

because they need a
win here against scorpios,

she couldn't find
space to spin up,

tonight they're using
their longest bar,

it's three feet and 60
pounds of aluminum.

With that extra reach, they're hoping
they can get in one big early shot

and end this fight before
lucky can start the flipper.

Blade is a really tough machine.

It's going to be
a lot of large hits.

We're hoping to
deflect blades blade.

If we're going to win, I think we're going
to have to win within three or four hits,

hopefully get them flipped over.

If it goes to the full three minutes,
I'm pretty sure we're taking damage.

We're all in one right now,

so that really puts a lot of pressure
on us to win that next match.

Let the bot battle begin.

Lucky on the charge.

Oh, gosh.

Blade just snapped
its blade and left a piece

stuck at the side
of the battle box.

It's throwing it off, get
that gyroscope in motion and lucky...

lucky flipping blade into
the screws, oh, there's another...

you go to your room, says lucky.

Doesn't get better than that.

And look at
this, the spin around,

flipper trying to
knock the blade off,

but now, just got
to hang out up there.

That's it, it's just going to sit and
chill as lucky picks up the victory.

It's a knock-out.

What a knockout.

Wow.

Kenny, impressive, impressive
run by lucky right there.

Yeah, absolutely, and a
great choice to go with that ar armor,

it caused blade
to slam into the rail

and broke that three-foot
aluminum bar off

into the side of the battle box.

- Look at that, crazy.
- Yeah.

Blade on its heels after that,
a little flippage from lucky,

send it politely to the top of
the side rail to be counted out.

Rookie driver, matt olsen, with yet
another sensational performance,

as lucky moves to 1-1.

What are you
feeling, lucky, huh?

Kenny, I love battlebots,

'show and tell', it's my
favorite day of the school year.

It is. I get to hold
the prop here.

- Oh my gosh.
- Do not touch the top of it.

It is very sharp,

but this is the tip of the
blade that broke off of blade.

- And stuck right into the wall.
- Yes.

- That is incredible force.
- Crazy. Very heavy.

If you didn't get your bi's and tri's
then you might want to start lifting this.

No, I'm good with just the air.

You're good. Okay.

Coming up.

One of the most ferocious
drivers in the sport.

He's determined to will his team
back into tournament contention.

Stop yelling at me,

daniel freitas in minotaur facing
the undefeated rookie, dragon slayer.

That's up next on battlebots.

We are back on battlebots and
guess who's back inside the box.

It's brazilian bazooka, minotaur

in desperate need of a win here
tonight against rookie, dragon slayer,

and let's start with
the boys from texas.

A group of young machinists led
by 22-year-old captain, jordan neal.

Kenny, dragon slayer beat
up on respected veteran, duck

in its very first
battlebots fight ever.

That's right.

And while dragon slayers vertical
disc may not pack a nuclear punch,

it was able to rip the beak
right off of duck in its debut.

But minotaur is in quite a
different class offensively,

so this should be a good indicator
for them to where they stand here,

amongst all teams.

And when it comes to minotaur,

this is one of the most popular
robots in the entire world.

Led this year by captain,
junior souza, they sit at 0-1.

And even though that loss came at the hands of
one of the top teams in the field, saw blaze,

these guys cannot afford
to take another l tonight,

especially against
the rookie robot.

No doubt, they
are fired up and ready to go,

no one more so than
their driver, daniel freitas,

his ferocity, nearly
brought this team

to a battlebots
championship in 2018.

But for minotaur
spiritual leader,

this season is about
something bigger than robots.

Kenny, it's hard
not to root for daniel

and these guys on team minotaur.

But he's here doing what
he loves and he wants to win that nut.

All right, let's get
it going. Faruq.

In the red square from rio de janeiro,
brazil, the most ball-headed bot,

the sport has ever
seen, it's minotaur.

Daniel freitas, the driver,
always has his game face on,

ready to lead
minotaur into battle.

That drum is so nasty, kenny.

It sure is.

That is a 55-pound drum and it's wider
than we've seen it in previous seasons.

We know daniel
will be aggressive,

but with dragon
slayer's, huge plow,

the key will be aggressively
attacking from the side.

In the blue
square from denton, texas,

giving opponents and
khaleesi nightmares,

it's dragon slayer.

There is dragon slayer.

Kenny, what do they have to
do to take down the raging bull?

Well, two things.

One, keep that plow square
with minotaur's drum at all times

and two, get that
weapon up to full speed.

Jordan said their disc wasn't
functioning properly against duck.

They're going with
a smaller disc tonight,

and they've also increased the
battery power behind the weapon.

Let's see if those
changes pay off.

For this next fight,
we're juicing it up a little.

We're going from six-cell
to eight-cell in all systems.

Hopefully, that's going to give us
enough punch we need to fight minotaur.

We switched our weapons.

We actually went
down a little bit.

We went with our lighter weapon

in order to compensate for
that extra juice we're given to it.

We're open for a
line of tip speed.

This weapon's got
a little more reach.

We switched our scoops, they're
a little more heavily armored.

Honestly, it's not the worst
fight we could possibly have,

but damn if it ain't scary,

we could leave with another victory
chip in our hands or a smoking wreck.

Dragon slayer is a new bot.

They did pretty
well against duck.

They have a wedge on the
front, so we have the old forks.

We're really hoping to get underneath
their wedge and just make it gone.

We've got to avoid
the weapon as well,

because it can be a really
powerful and damage minotaur.

But we've got to go forward and make
sure that we hit them strong as we can

to try to go for a knockout.

Robots, activate.

Minotaur's season may rest
on the shoulders of that man right there,

daniel freitas is
locked and loaded.

The rookie, jordan neal,
looking to take his squad to 2-0.

Dragon slayer, minotaur.

Next.

We are right back into
the action here on battlebots,

where minotaur and
the squad from brazil

are rallied around their
outstanding driver, daniel freitas,

taking on the rookie team
from texas, dragon slayer.

Minotaur needs a win
to avoid falling to 0-2.

Let the bot battle begin.

Here comes dragon
slayer, not afraid of minotaur

until you hear that drum spinning...
And two bots go weapon on weapon.

Minotaur still humming.

Dragon slayer back pedaling.

Oh, oh, look at this.

Minotaur trying to send dragon slayer
into the upper deck, didn't happen.

There's a nice kiss.

- You drive this on your own money.
- Okay.

And it looks like minotaur
has knocked dragon slayer's weapon

out of commission
to start this fight.

But here's dragon
slayer pushing back.

Daniel freitas finds an angle.

Oh, starts chewing
away at those tires.

Yeah. He
eats tires for breakfast.

Dragon slayer still has
its wedge in play though, kenny.

That's right and jordan
neal has to use that big wedge

to see if he can break
minotaur's weapon.

Minotaur says
good luck with that pal,

bending dragon slayer chewing on
the underbelly on the bot from texas.

Dragon slayer
needs to self-right.

Running around in circles
and here come minotaur again

and it's dragon slayer
down for the count.

Yeah. That might
have been the knockout shot.

Him on the backside.

Oh, no.

- Ten, nine...
- Here comes the count down.

Can dragon slayer
find a way to free itself?

Oh, the celebration is starting.

That's going to be curtains.

It's a knockout.

Well, they may not have been
the toughest opponent he's ever faced,

but daniel freitas just kept
minotaur's season alive.

Yeah!

Yes!

Kenny, minotaur just on it
from the get go with that drum spinner.

Went right at
that primary weapon,

then started
attacking the tires.

They attacked from
the back, they were

hitting dragon slayer
anywhere they could.

You know, the relentless driving

we've come to expect
from daniel freitas,

who was on full
display yet again.

He just never let up.

No, he didn't.

It was his aggressive
style that he always uses,

just going out there trying to
take out that bot from the get go.

They wanted the
knockout and they got it.

- Junior.
- Me?

Yes, you, congratulations on
your first win as team captain.

Thank you.

Hey, your driver, daniel
freitas is an animal.

Yeah. Bring him in here, huh?

What is it like for you to watch him
do his thing as a driver out there?

We hear daniel, you
know, we have a tough few days.

This guy here,
he deserves it, so.

Minotaur! Minotaur! Minotaur!

Daniel, how
does it feel to be here

with your second
family at battlebots?

Uh, I had very difficult weeks.

I lost my mom.

But we are back here

and we do lot
better for... Tonight.

Congratulations
to team minotaur.

Daniel, thank you very much
for sharing your emotions with us.

- Thank you, guys.
- Thank you, thank you.

Well, you heard, daniel just lost
his mom and his grandmother recently.

And I do think that for a lot
of athletes and competitors

in whatever field you are in,

if you come back to a place where
you know you are in love like battlebots,

it's not going to chase
the pain away entirely.

Absolutely.

But you said it best, I mean,
that is like his second family.

It's got to feel good, you know,
after everything that he's dealt with

to go out there and
do what he loves

and to get a win
for him and his team.

- He's one of the best out there.
- Yeah.

And you saw why tonight.

Congratulations
to daniel freitas

and his entire work
family here at battlebots.

Back to the games we play.

And when we return,

it's the king of staten island
versus the king of the himalayas.

As evan arias and pain train rolls
into the box against the dreaded yeti.

That's next on battlebots.

We are back on battlebots
and up next the meeting of a pair

of 0-1 teams that both lost by
knockouts their first time out.

Let's start with the veteran team
yeti, led by gibson and karlberg,

and we talked with greg
gibson earlier today.

He said, listen, I have to
admit I was nervous last month.

It was the first time I
was in the box in two years.

He said, guess what?

I'm going to let it roll and
we might see the old yeti,

I think, a little
bit more tonight.

I think so.

Listen, he said, he's always
nervous for that first fight.

He said he's a complete wreck

and again, this yeti is very different
from the bot we saw two years ago.

It's much smaller.

But both captains know when it
comes to making the tournament,

tonight is a do
or die situation.

All right, so with pain train,
they're captained by evan arias,

they had a rough
rookie season in 2020,

high expectations, they end
up getting ko'd in their first fight.

They got a start to
turn it around a little bit.

Yeah, that's right.

We talked about it.

But evan is one of the
top drivers in the world,

when it comes to
lower weight classes,

one of his robots actually just got
put in the beetleweight hall of fame.

He really wants to prove that he belongs in
the big leagues and no better way to do that

than by taking down a
legendary bot, like yeti.

Somebody's getting
a win number one.

Will it be pain train
or will it be yeti?

Let's find out. Faruq.

In the red square from
san luis obispo, california,

this ice monster will leave
you shaking in your snow boots.

It's yeti.

A fan favorite, yeti,

about 80% of its size from
2019 went on the old diet.

Is that at all, do you think?

You know, greg is
still getting used to handling

this more compact
version of yeti.

This fight is massive drum
versus massive drum, though.

And yeti's got the smaller one,

so contrary to their
typical game plan,

they want to be cautious and
avoid going weapon to weapon here.

In the blue square from staten island,
new york, known as thomas, the train's

terrifying older
brother, its pain train.

Pain train knocked out by deep-6
in its season debut, there's evan arias,

wearing the shades,
waving to the crowd.

That weapon looks great, man.

We just want to see it
connect occasionally.

Yeah, well, it was working
perfectly in the test box earlier today,

and at 75 pounds,

pain train's drum is more than 30,
yes, 30 pounds heavier than yeti's.

Because of that, evans says he
does want to attack head on here,

so let's see if it
can hold up tonight.

The yeti's been
around for a little bit.

I was actually a
fan of it growing up.

It has this nice seven-tooth that
I'm looking to rip right off the weapon

and I'm just going to attack
them, head on, rip off their forks

and have a few
wheels to have fun with.

I'm more than confident that I'm
going to have yeti on the heels today.

Pain train has no brakes.

I'm going to enjoy some
yeti spaghetti tonight.

I can't win this
fight head to head.

I have to keep my cool.

I have to drive properly and keep
aiming for their sides and back.

Their drum is heavier than ours.

It probably spins faster.

If I just throw caution to
the wind and go at them,

we're going to lose this fight and that's
probably going to be it for the season.

Let the bot battle begin.

Oh, oh, pain train passed out of the
game, but just runs right into the rails.

Yeah. He's
trying to line it up.

A love tap there.

More than a a love tap there.

Pain train doing a great
job of staying squared up to yeti.

Nice shot by pain train.

Yeti, though not taking the
pain, looking for the right angle.

Sniffing around those tires now.

Dragging it out there.

Oh, nice little flip.

Greg gibson driving
a brilliant match so far,

showing a lot of patience
in this opening stretch.

Big shot.

It's a massive drum
on drum action.

Yeti working up a sweat now.

Oh, this is a much better fight

from both yeti and
pain train already.

Oh, big shot by
pain train, knocks yeti...

oh, no, no a big part
of pain train has come off.

Yeti is about to
take over, it looks like, chris.

Oh, no, pain train
should motor on nicely.

It's exposed
on the left side though.

Oh, that's got to hurt.

Uh-oh.

Yeti flipping pain
train like a pancake here.

Can it hang on?

Does pain train
have any control.

Yeti's trying to sniff it out.

Oh, he's grinding
it into the rails.

Un-oh, that's going to be it.

I don't see controlled movement.

You saw a lot
of wobbling right now

and pain train still might be...

oh, flip.

That's it.

Greg's making up for that
first fight right now my goodness.

Yeah, there's
battery spilled out,

the top armor is off and the
countdown has started and yeti.

Evan arias, all
he can do is smile,

because he has been
done in by a big time bot.

Knock-out.

Kenny, you get two high
energy drum spinners like this,

you'd never know
what could happen.

Oh, my goodness,
this was an awesome fight.

Both robots really went for it,

a little bit cautious
in the beginning,

and then all of a sudden they just
started trading blows back and forth.

I got to tell you,
pain train, you know,

we talked about at the
beginning of this fight

that durability was going
to be an issue for them

and things were going just fine.

They were exchanging
blow for blow with yeti,

and then they ended up losing
the top armor and things changed.

Yeah, listen, there were
some serious energy in that battle box.

Both bots landed
some great shots,

but in the end, it really did
come down to the durability,

you see the shots from yeti just kind of
tearing apart pain train little by little,

bot parts everywhere.

It was a very surgical approach

from greg gibson
for the most part.

And then finishing it up,

knocking batteries on the battle
box floor and we'll call it a night.

Greg and christian,

that's the way that that
machine is supposed to run, right?

Yeah. It worked out a
lot better than last time.

Uh-huh.

Greg, could you kind
of smell it once pain train

lost its top armor
where you're like,

oh, this is going to be tasty?

Sort of. The thing is their
drum is really, really nasty.

It was still spinning.

So as long as that
thing's going, it's scary.

Greg, it seemed like you
were a cautious early on,

and then it seemed like the
old yeti kind of revealed itself.

Was that the case?

Well, I had kind of promised the
team I was going to try to drive smart

and not go weapon to weapon
that usually lasts about 20 seconds.

We'll have to look back to
see if I made it to a full 20

and then we started
going drum to drum.

Well, congratulations
on getting that first win.

Thanks very much, guys.

Kenny, you heard it
out of the mouth of greg gibson,

sometimes you just got to resort
back to what you know best, huh?

Yeah, absolutely.

You can't get too
far from who you are.

But make no mistake, the
first 60 seconds of that fight

was maybe the most strategic
driving we've ever seen from greg

and it paid off for a
much needed victory.

After the break,

the devil from the deep clashes
with a deadly bird of prey.

It's kraken versus hijinx.

And don't forget about the
main event of the evening,

where the legendary lock-jaw will go
head to head with speed demon hypershock.

It's the o.G. Donald hutson

versus consummate
showman will bales,

that's later tonight
on battlebots.

And welcome back to las vegas,

where the battlebots
championship qualifiers roll on.

At the top of the
marquee tonight,

boy, do we have a
fun matchup for you?

The king of flash, will bales,

will roll hypershock
into the arena

to face the legendary
donald hutson and lock-jaw.

Our cameras caught the two teams
sizing each other up a bit earlier.

How old were you when
I first started competing?

You were, I guess
you did '95, right?

- '96.
- '96, I was 4.

It's young hotshot versus
grizzled veteran in tonight's main event,

so get your popcorn ready for what
is sure to be an action packed fight.

But right now, it's a matchup
between a pair of robots,

who both made it to the
round of 32 a season ago.

But now, both find
themselves in an 0-1 hole.

Kraken versus hijinx.

Let's start with kraken
engineered by matt spurk,

and you just
cannot kill this thing.

Go ask rotator,

because kraken lasted the
distance, even though it lost its teeth,

basically the top of its head,

but not its ability to drive and it
shows just how tough kraken is.

No doubt about it.

That really is their
superpower, its unkillable,

and they do have a lot
of crushing force as well.

We didn't really see
that in their first fight,

but they're going
to try to use it here.

In the meantime,
jen herchenroeder,

who's the captain of hijinx,

they had such high expectations
coming into this season.

They spent the entire off season
fixing what went wrong in 2020

and all of a sudden,
they got popped

right in the grill by
mammoth first time out,

a little bit of a jarring
situation for hijinx.

For jen, she's
the ultimate optimist.

She was really confident that
she was going to come back

and bring the best bot possible.

The winner here, I'm not
going to say they're sitting pretty,

but they're going to be in the
thick of the race to the round of 32.

The loser is
going to fall to 0-2

and is going to need some
serious help to get to the postseason.

Faruq?

In the red square
from titusville, florida,

he's got more bite than a
vampire at a net convention.

It's kraken.

Kraken and matt spurk has
brought his entire family with him.

Well, you can't even tell that
dragon head got screwed up last time out.

Yeah, they had to scrap
the frame from the first fight,

it was damaged so badly,

and this frame is actually
designed for vertical,

not horizontal spinners,

so they're already a
little behind the eight ball.

But if matt spurk
can corner hijinx

and prevent it from spinning up,

kraken is more than
capable of winning this fight.

In the blue square
from oakland, california,

the pink and yellow that
turns you black and blue.

It's hijinx.

Hijinx's always so pretty.

The paint job is sensational,

the engineering needs a little
working between fights one and two.

We'll see what jen herchenroeder
and her right hand man,

orion beach have
dialed up tonight.

Well, what adjustment
jen made to this fight

was to add s7 tool steel
teeth to that 68-pound bar.

S7 is a sharper metal.

It's better for cutting.

They know kraken is too
tough to bludgeoned to death,

but if they could cut through
the sea monsters head,

they might actually be
able to get the knockout.

The overall strategy with
kraken is always the same.

Close the distance on
them as fast as possible,

light them up and
then just crush them.

They've got such a long bar

and it takes a long time to
get up to really deadly speed.

And I think if we can get on
them and just stay on them,

I think we'll be okay.

But if we have to back off or
we get separated too much,

then they're really going
to tear us up pretty bad.

Matt spurk is a fantastic builder
and made regular improvements.

Kraken is fully able
to get their teeth

around one of our wings
and controlled the fight.

So we're going to do everything
we can to stay out of the mouth

and to knock the teeth
out as fast as we can.

For both teams, this,
this is a mandatory win,

something to be said
for strength schedule,

you can have really good
fights against really good robots,

but I do think it's a much
larger uphill struggle

to get into the round of 32 if
you don't have at least two wins.

Robots activate.

Hijinx has its game face off, so too
does kraken, assisted by his little narwhal

got torn to shreds
in its last fight.

Red team, ready?

Young ethan spurk
hitting the button right there.

Blue team, ready?

Let the bot battle begin.

Kraken on these...

Oh, big shot there by
hijinx, but kraken took it.

Yeah, that's a
great start by kraken,

trying to jam up that weapon and
they're going to stay right on hijinx.

Trying to send
them into the screws.

Hijinx is already upside down.

Kraken looking
to take advantage.

Hijinx wiggles free, now
trying to create some space to spin.

Oh!

Trying to chip away those teeth,

including the two
big ones in the front.

My goodness,
hijinx is still very dangerous

in this helicopter
configuration.

Hijinx not moving
very well now, though,

and matt spurk staying
aggressive, as he always does.

Kraken trying to bite down
and then drag hijinx around the arena.

He's dead.

He's dead. Count,
count, he's dead.

Matt spurk calling
for the quick count out.

You have control?
Do you have control?

Hijinx's weapon is
spinning, but the big question,

can the robot move?

Yes. It can.

Whoa! - whoa!

Hijinx chopping away at
the mouth of kraken saying,

"get off you ugly,
hideous beast".

It's amazing, now
kraken just go right in there,

creeping and jam up that weapon
like that, that's just ridiculous.

Hijinx still trying to find
its way in this inverted position,

though, kenny.

Yeah, keep in mind, the
directional controls on that robot

are actually backwards
for driver orion beach now.

Under 90 to go.

Kraken working
hijinx into the screws.

Trying to get it under
the upper deck and he does.

Could this be the
knockout that kraken wanted.

Hijinx has an opening and is trying
to work its way down to field level.

Now, are you kidding me?

Hijinx starts spinning and get
down on the surface and it does.

Brilliant move by orion beach,

using hijinx's spinner to
create momentum there.

Under a minute to go

and hijinx is throwing its
weapon into kraken's teeth.

Both of these bots looking to make
one final push before the closing bell.

This has been
a brutal grinding fight.

Both teams...

Big hit by hijinx.

Kraken's going to
have to send hijinx his dental bill.

Kraken has way less
teeth than when it started.

Oh, there goes the big one.

Hijinx's leaving
a strong last impression,

and I'm not even so
sure kraken is moving.

You got to show me...

I have to count now.

No, I don't think it is.

And hijinx still
moving. Oh, it's caught up.

How is kraken still moving?

Both bots gasping for
air as the final seconds tick away.

Kraken is crab walking.

Hijinx spun up to try
to land one more shot.

One more, one more, one more.

But it looks like this one is
going to go to the judge's scorecards.

Wow!

Boy, was there a lot
going on in this one, kenny.

Just ridiculous
kraken going right at hijinx.

Hijinx with a big shot right off
the bat, kraken trying to control.

They just were never able to
get that good fight down on hijinx.

Now, I got to give orion beach

a whole lot of credit
for keeping hijinx active

and away from that bite of
kraken, all while driving inverted.

No doubt, especially when
you consider that his drive controls

were reversed once
hijinx got flipped.

Great job by orion.

Man, this was
a very close fight.

So how do you think the
judges will break this one down?

This is a tough call. To me,
kraken was the more aggressive robot.

It should have the edge there, and
matt spurk will win some control points

for tossing hijinx
onto the upper deck.

But in the end, this could very well
come down to the damage column.

Hijinx landed a
bunch of heavy shots,

beat up on kraken and
ripped one of its teeth out

advantage hijinx
in that category,

going to be a fascinating
decision either way.

Here's faruq with the results.

The results from
the judges are in.

The winner by
unanimous decision is...

Hijinx.

Jen herchenroeder, is it fair to
say that hijinx probably doesn't win

a fight like this a season ago?

I think that is probably true.

We've done everything we can to
improve literally everything on the robot.

We made one mistake.

We made one big mistake in the
pits before our first fight, we fixed it.

It'll never happen again, and you're
going to see more of that from here on out.

That was a back
and forth fight, jen.

Yeah.

At one point, it seemed like you
were stuck there on the upper deck.

Did that worry you?

No.

We consider that it was a high
probability we'd be put upside down

at some point and
we can drive inverted.

It's not a problem, but just to
make it a little bit easier on orion,

I added some slippery uhmw to
the top of the head to help us scoot off

in the case we had one wheel on,

one wheel off some kind of
balance and he did a great job.

He sure did.

Jen, congratulations.

Hijinx evens its record
at 1-1 on the season.

So hijinx pulls
out the decision victory,

and we're going
to put the judges

scorecards up on the
screen for you here.

Kenny, break it all down for us.

Yeah, the judges had it
6-5 across the board for hijinx.

Looks like kraken did end up winning
the aggression and control categories,

but wow, the numbers that tell the
story are in the damaged department.

You see there on
jason and derek's cards,

both of them scoring
damage 4-1 in favor of hijinx.

Tough to win a fight if
you don't come out on top

in the most heavily
weighted category.

Destroy or disable your
opponent, that is the mission.

So hijinx moves to 1-1, while fan
favorite kraken now faces the challenge

of climbing out of an 0-2 hole.

Coming up, a showdown
between two 20-year-olds,

and I'm not talking
about a tik-tok battle.

Jason vasquez and his
control bot defender square off

with ethan kurtz and the highly
destructive drum spinner of riptide.

That's next on battlebots.

We continue on here
on battlebots and up next,

let's take a closer look at
tonight's marquee matchup.

It's hypershock versus lock-jaw,

a main event featuring speed,

spinners and two of the
biggest stars in this sport.

It's hypershock.

In years past, we had great
weapons, we have great tech,

we had good style and
we had good driving.

That was a perfect bot crush chris,
I've never seen anyone get out of this.

But for whatever reason, it
never quite came together.

I don't think there's
anything hypershock can do kenny.

This year, we made a
concerted effort to say, okay,

no more gimmicks, no more stupid
little tricks, no more self-righter.

And in our fight against slamo,

basically everything went right.

Oh!

With that combination of speed
and power slamo, doesn't stand a chance.

Oh, what a shot by will bales.

We felt good, the robot drove
well, the weapon worked great,

and we've got it nailed.

That's a knock-out.

Hypershock
is back chris. Oh, man.

It's macho.

I have won two championships

and two's not enough.

Oh, no mercy from lock-jaw.

These qualifying matches are meant to
kind of seat us position us in a way to say

we have a good chance
at a run for the nut.

Oh, what a shot.

The last fight I had with copperhead
was a complete, chaotic mess.

The left fork is bent backwards.

The left front wheel is
hanging out for dear life

and lock-jaw is behind
the eight ball now.

But I went all three
minutes with that beating.

So that gave me just a little bit of confidence
about maybe how I go into the next one.

Whoa! Lock-jaw
is going right at him.

Lock-jaw looks tough as nails
this year. They're hard to beat.

Donald has been here
since the beginning.

Donald hutson, the legend.

And he's a very good driver.

Unbelievable, the
driving by donald hutson.

We have a good chance to win
if we can avoid the hard impacts.

That's pretty beefy weapon.

Hypershock coated...

We have 25% more weapon
mass than we did before.

We have 40% more
weapon energy than before.

If we can get the weapon
to connect with lock-jaw,

we're going to see
some wheels come off.

We're going to see some
extra holes in lock-jaw

that they didn't have
at the beginning.

I want to mangle some metal.

Will bales and his best friend
chaos have entered the battle box.

It's going to be a lot of
back and forth going on.

I'm relentless. I'm
not going to let up.

I need to win this match,
so here I come, will.

Oh, unbelievable.

That one is going
to be fun, kenny.

Now, when donald says
he's won two championships,

he's referring to the
super heavyweight titles

he won with his
iconic robot dissector.

He, of course, is still looking
for that elusive giant nut

here in the modern era.

But before we get
you to that main event,

we got one more matchup for you,

featuring two of this
season's top rookies

in the field,
defender and riptide.

And let's start with riptide, captained
by a college kid out of los angeles.

Ethan kurtz, he was so excited
just to be involved in battlebots.

Then, when he
won his first match

against huge no less by a
knockout in less than a minute,

the dude was basically
running around here going crazy.

He couldn't catch his breath,
guy's having the time of his life.

Yeah, amazing
performance in that first fight.

That weapon is devastating,
so he's on his way.

Taking on another college
kid from the los angeles area,

but the last name you
certainly know oh, so well.

Jason vasquez, the younger
brother of manny vasquez,

defender lost its opener,
knocked out by ribot.

Jason said, listen,
we worked on it.

My brother even came
over and helped out a little bit

and he certainly hasn't
lost any confidence.

No, not at all.
He's been here before.

He has a lot of experience,
of course, with whiplash,

and he believes he
has his robot dialed in.

He loves this matchup
against riptide as well.

Rookie versus rookie.
Should be a fun one. Faruq?

In the red square, he's all
plugged in and turned up to 11,

here to make his opponents
take the stairway to heaven

like a hot guitar
solo on your face,

he'll be wailing, tear
you up like a master.

Call him shreddy van halen.
Crank it up for defender.

All right, there's jason in front
with his mom and pop and also rob,

guy that you
bring in to help out,

he's great behind the scenes
guy here, pushing in the bot.

Rob mastic, of course,
used to be on fight force.

Now they've gone from four
forks to two on front of defender.

Jason realized those were just going to
get shredded against a vertical spinner

like riptide.

Now to win, he's going to have
to smother wild driver ethan kurtz,

which is no easy task.

In the blue square, when this
riptide takes over the battle box,

no lifeguard can save you.

Not even hasselhoff.

No pam anderson or carmen
electra running in slow motion,

just you getting devoured by
a murderous ocean, it's riptide.

Team riptide made up of a
bunch of college and high school kids,

and ethan kurtz calls
just a bunch of idiots.

But there's ethan in front.
He's always having fun.

Yeah, just
kind of soaking it all in.

I thought this bot did a
great job against huge.

Yeah. It doesn't get much
better than that in its first fight.

It's a powerful bot,

and I think an underrated
aspect is its wide base

and low center of mass.

This makes turning easier, which is
going to be crucial against an opponent

that they want to avoid
approaching face first.

Riptide's got a huge
weapon, and I mean,

that's something to
always be concerned about.

Ribot, they destroyed
our switches

and we realized from
that that our electronics

placement could
have been better.

By moving around
some of the electronics,

we really don't think they're
going to be able to kill our drive.

So if we could drive that full three
minutes and stay aggressive and persistent,

I think we could definitely take the
judge's decision, if not a knockout.

Our strategy for defender's to
approach them at a slight angle

and try to bite into their ports

or whatever we can and get
our weapon bar dig into them.

We need one hit on
defender to win the fight.

As soon as we get one hit,
which pound them and pound them

and pound them and
pound them and it's over.

We showed last fight that we
had the power to knock anyone out.

Doesn't matter who you are, even
if you're huge, we knock you out.

So now we just
have to sustain that.

Robots activate.

Once again, both of these
captains are only 20 years old.

We are looking at the
future of this sport folks.

Can riptide start their
battle box career 2-0?

Or will jason vasquez get his
first win as captain of defender?

Find out when
battlebots continues.

Welcome back to battlebots,

where two rookie
teams are inside the box

and ready to tear
each other into pieces.

Its defender versus
riptide, let's go.

Let the bot battle begin.

Oh, defender with a
nice pop to riptide and...

Running side.

Oh!

Ripped off another
piece and then just...

Riptide cannot get over and can
get defender get back off its butt?

Defender went right at it, oh...

The primary weapon of riptide.

Now, this is amazing kenny.

Riptide popped itself back
over by hitting the rails,

but landed
perfectly on its side.

Let's go.

Let's see if defender lends a
helping hand or just takes the win.

And there's your answer.

Jason vasquez tips
riptide onto his head.

He wants to keep
the fight going.

Let's see if riptide can
right itself again here.

See if defender can get
a hold of him that's been able

to get that grabber
going quite yet.

Anytime riptide's
trying to bounce itself off of the...

Oh!

Holy smokes.

That's one way to do it.

And now he's trying to back
off and here comes defender.

Oh, boy!

Get right on
and that was awesome.

That was tremendous driving

from both drivers there.

Remember, these
are a couple of college kids

out of los angeles,

not a lot of stick time
for either on these bots.

Nice driving by jason vasquez,

keeping the pressure on riptide.

Oh, nice work on
pulverizer, just a neck... Defender.

Defender has been
the lower bot so far, chris,

able to get underneath riptide.

And it looks like
riptide's primary weapon

may be slowing down now, kenny.

Yeah. They are not
able to get it up to full speed.

I think they damage it on that
moon shot onto the upper deck.

Here's defender giving riptide

a nice little tour
of the battle box,

now with no fear that dangerous
egg beater weapon at all.

Let's see if
riptide can find a way

to even the score
cards here, chris.

Defender looks like it may
be dealing with a drive issue.

Big question,

can these bots hang on and
make it to the closing bell?

Get on him, get on him...

and it looks like riptide
starting to smoke right now, chris.

Absolutely, it is.

Primary weapon not
working on either robot.

It is a driving competition.

Just about 20
seconds left to go.

Defender with a
pin in the corner.

Trying to get a lift
going, not quite able to do it.

Have to let riptide go and does.

Smart play by jason vasquez,
leaning on riptide like a boxer there,

as defender is now just
crab walking around the box.

And there is the closing bell,

which means we will be
going to the scorecards.

The judges are earning
their paychecks tonight.

Kenny, riptide has
a scary weapon,

but jason vasquez
showed no fear.

He came out in all
out attack mode.

Yeah, defender went
right at that primary weapon

and had team riptide
on the ropes early.

But how about this move,

riptide launching
themselves 15 feet into the air

and onto the upper deck?

That's one way to self-right.

I mean, look how high they were.

That was insane. Craziness.

Both teams weapons
eventually went down,

but as the control bot, defender

was better set up
to take advantage.

Exactly. Defender
stayed aggressive,

it was the lower
bot in this match,

which allowed it to
get underneath riptide

and control the action, that should
pay dividends on the scorecards.

Here's our man,
faruq, with the results.

The results from
the judges are in.

The winner by
unanimous decision is...

Defender.

All right, jason.

I don't know what was tougher, getting that
first win as a captain or rob masek hug?

Are you, did he
break a rib there?

You okay?

Yeah, no, I'm really
excited about that.

I was pretty concerned after
knocking them back down,

but I just wanted the
fight to keep going.

But I mean, I'm happy I won.

It was a pretty
good, close fight, so.

Your first win here at battlebots,
man, how does that feel?

It feels really good.

It feels so weird, I feel like I've
won a thousand times at whiplash.

But I guess this
is the real deal,

this nobody could say I didn't
win, so I'm pretty happy with that.

Is your brother around there
or did you just have to go

brag in his face now
that you got one?

Oh, no.

No, no, there are no
hard feelings between us.

He's... He's kind
of in the shadows

around here just
kind of helping me out,

giving me good vibes
before the fight, so.

Good deal.

Well, congratulations on getting
your first win as a team captain.

- That's awesome, dude.
- Thank you.

You know, it's so
interesting jason vasquez has

been a part of a team that made it
all the way to the final a year ago,

but, man, when you move
up a chair and it's your bot,

you're making the decisions,
just getting that first victory,

it's got to feel great.

It's totally different.

Listen, both these
teams were young,

but, you know, to captain
up your first squad is not easy.

There's so many
more responsibilities.

I thought he did a great job, by not
only doing that, but also driving as well.

Yeah, both these teams are certainly
the future of battlebots and right now,

they are each 1-1.

All right, stay tuned
because coming up,

we've got the battle
of the beaches,

as miami's own hypershock tries

to kick sand in the face
of san diego's lock-jaw.

It's the main event,

when we come back on battlebots.

I've been fighting
robots close to 25 years.

Everybody always
looks at battlebots,

it's like, "oh, it's cool,
you're on the tv show."

it takes a little time
for them to get to,

you know, how'd you get into it?

I tell them all the same thing,

I started out building
remote control planes

and gliders just
like every other kid

that was a little different.

But really, we're just hungry or more
complicated things to work on than regular kids.

Finding something you're passionate
about is important for your success.

And the only way to do that is
introduce yourself to new technologies.

And I think
battlebots does that.

Thing about battlebots,

it's been good for me

and my career all the way from
day-one of just building garage robots,

I now have my own company
building sophisticated drones,

because what I was doing in
my spare time just rolled into it.

That's what I think is great.

All the skills you learn here,
including losing and winning,

are keys to your success
in the outside world.

We are back
on battlebots, and boy,

do we have a good one
cooking for you right now.

Let's start with lock-jaw,
which is 0-1 on the season,

it lost a decision to copperhead

in a fight that lock-jaw
captain donald hutson said,

we got thrown all over the box.

I mean, they
really took it to us.

How does he rebound tonight?

Well, when we
talked to him, he said,

you know, this really had
nothing to do with the bot itself.

It came down to me
making mistakes out there.

Copperhead just fought better,

he says, I just need to go out
there and outdrive will bales.

Now taking on one of the most
popular robots around there,

hypershock, you just
mentioned about will bales.

I talked to will
before the fight,

and he said, listen, donald is
one of the reasons I got into this.

I got a happy meal lock-jaw toy,

when I was a little kid,

and he is certainly happy with the way
that hypershock has run so far this season.

Yeah, that's
right and it's amazing.

These guys haven't
fought each other,

but he feels he has a speed
advantage here against lock-jaw.

Lock-jaw might have
a better turning radius.

They can turn
a little bit better.

I'm fascinated with this fight.

Two very similar
platforms here. Can't wait.

Are you telling me that will
bale's robot can improve to 2-0.

Don't tell will, he's going to get
all crazy on us now. Here we go.

It's the first ever meeting
between hypershock and lock-jaw.

Faruq, take it away.

Ladies and
gentlemen, are you ready?

It's time for the main event.

In the red square,

matching raw combat power

with some flair and some grace.

Call this robot rupaul because,
honey, he'll beat your face,

he'll drag you for filth,

but he ain't wearing mascara
serving you carnage, unstoppability,

nightmares and
terror, sashay shante.

It's hypershock.

Hypershock with a knock-out
of slamo in its season debut,

there's will bales,
leading the troops out.

Oh, there's the will
bales, that is just freaky.

That's great.

But as will said, they've
removed the self-righter

and the way they save there,

they put into the weapons,
so those are thicker,

more powerful s7 tool steel
blades sharp enough to cut,

powerful enough to kill.

In the blue square,

a mandibular murderer is
running loose on the streets,

jack the ripper, ted
bundy and dahmer agree

you need the jaws of life to
escape death from its teeth.

You don't mess with lock-jaw
if you don't have the key.

It's lock-jaw.

Donald hutson, one of
the most popular drivers out there,

but he is always pointing to his
machine at his crew for the credit.

Yeah, very humble
guy, excellent driver.

And donald knows hypershock
doesn't have a self-righter any more,

so he wants to pin
them into a wall

and then flip wheel
on his back now,

lock-jaw doesn't have
his self-righter either,

but it can drive fully inverted,

so a little more versatile.

For more on this esthetically pleasing
matchup, we bring in our bot whisperer,

pete, who has more
on will bale's bot.

So having a conversation
with will before this fight,

they've been studying
for this one pretty intensely.

They know donald
is a great driver,

but one of the things they've noticed
is that lock-jaw tends to oversteer.

So what we are
going to probably see

from hypershock is quite a
lot of drifting with these tires,

as they spin around
the outside of lock-jaw,

circling in like a thresher shark coming in
on its prey to come hidden from the side.

You have a favorite in this one?

Hypershock.

Oh, okay.

The bot whisperer is smoking.

We'll keep it quiet,
we won't tell donald.

Robots, activate.

Red team, ready?

Blue team, ready?

Let the bot battle begin.

Will bales,

a little bit bigger bot
trying to take it to lock-jaw.

Oh, yeah, some serious grinding.

Oh, nice.

- Oh, nice hit there by lock-jaw.
- Yeah.

Will bales' hypershock
got little airtime there

and are those wheels
chewed up a little bit?

They are.

Yeah. That front
left wheel of hypershock's...

Oh!

That's great hit by hypershock.

Yeah. And
hypershock going in for more.

I'm impressed by hypershock.

Even with a bummed wheel...

uh-oh.

A few
of 'em, kenny...

Whoa!

That was hypershock's
wheel again.

Lock-jaw...

yeah. Lock-jaw...

except without a fist each.

Whoa!

Nice work by hypershock there.

Lock-jaw in the corner
having drive trouble.

Hypershock, oh,
are you kidding me?

And that's going to be it.

What a fight. He knocked
him out of the arena.

Will bales is
shocked, -...Eight, seven, six,

Because the
countdown has started.

That is indeed going to be a
knock-out in favor of hypershock.

An unbelievable first ever
meeting between hypershock and lock-jaw.

Kenny, this was non-stop action.

Yeah, it really was, I mean,
a ton of weapon on weapon hits,

both these guys
really going for it.

You see the wheels come off
pretty early there for hypershock.

He was having issues there.

Peter, if you have
the extra wheel,

you might want
to give that to will.

But it was amazing that
hypershock still had that much power,

even with its two front
tires basically incapacitated.

You see tires flying everywhere.

They are still fighting.

I mean, that was crazy.

You know, in a nascar race, if
that happens, you call their pit crew.

You cannot do that
inside of the battle box

and look at the crowning
blow to finish it off

as donald hutson's
lock-jaw flies

several feet behind
the barrier for the ko.

Thank you.

Will bales.

Hey, will, explain to us how you won
to fight with your tires all chewed up.

Apparently, we don't
need most of them.

Um, donald can have 'em
back. The robot drives really well.

Two seasons ago, we
managed most of the fight against

bite force with one wheel left,

so it tracks really well.

I've luckily gotten enough
driving practice with the last version

to be able to kind
of just scoot around

and we're just happy that
everything worked the whole time.

It's a miracle.

Will, you went against donald
hutson, a legend of the game.

What has he meant
to your career?

Donald, when I was a kid,

donald was the guy
who kept winning

and we all looked up to,
like you said, I had his...

I had his happy meal
toy, I had his rc toy,

I had everything
dissector or taz-bot.

It was... they were the
coolest robots to me.

So when I grew up, I wanted
to build robots as cool as his.

So to be able to fight him
at all is a dream come true.

To be able to win is a fluke.

That I will take, and
you can't have it back.

Will, congratulations
on your 2-0 start.

Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.

Thank you.

You're the best.

Year after year, we joke with
will bales, one thing falls apart,

and all of a sudden his
robot dies on the floor there.

I mean, how happy do
you think that team is?

I mean, they've
got to be elated.

This is the best they
have ever looked.

I mean, the robot looked
fantastic just aesthetically,

but then their
driving is on point.

Their weapon is hitting hard.

Everything is going
perfectly for them right now.

And what a great
fight card we had tonight.

Rotator improved to 2-0 in a
blazing barbeque of a battle.

We saw an emotional
win by minotaur,

as driver daniel freitas got the
brazilians back to their winning ways.

Team yeti got its swagger back
with its first win in a demolition derby

versus pain train and again,

will bales and hypershock
improved to 2-0,

could they be a dark horse to make
a deep tournament run this year?

Well, this was a ton of fun, as always,
so for faruq, our bot whisperer pete,

my man, kenny
florian, I'm chris rose.

We'll see you next
time on battlebots.

Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.