[audience cheering]
[Faruq] Over
it's 25 year history,
excellence atBattleBots
has been measured in hardware,
punctuated by
the ultimate prize,
the Giant Nut.
Tonight...
the quest for another one
of the sports' crown jewels...
[Chris]... End Game
wins the first ever Golden Bolt.
[Faruq] ...enters
it's second chapter.
Five nights of single
elimination fights...
[shouting indistinctly]
[Faruq] ...culminating
in a merciless,
winner take all tournament.
I'm gonna take that!
[Faruq] Welcome to robot combat
- at its most raw.
- Let's go!
[Faruq] This
isBattleBots: Champions,
the race for the Golden Bolt.
[robotic voice]
Robots, activate.
[crowd cheering]
Welcome to BattleBots:
Champions Sin City Slugfest.
How we doing, Las Vegas?
[crowd cheering]
I am Chris Rose,
joining as always,
it's UFC legend,
robot combat
analyst extraordinaire,
the one and only Kenny Florian.
[Kenny] It's great to
be here as we get into
the heart of this
incredible tournament.
[Chris] Tonight, eight
fighters will enter the box
but only one will
punch their ticket
to the tournament of Champions.
There they'll face other bots
who claw their way
through the Slugfest
as well as several
BattleBots champions
in a winner take
all fight to the death.
If they can survive that,
they'll win of the sport's most
coveted pieces of hardware,
- the Golden Bolt!
- [crowd cheering]
[Kenny] BattleBots: Champions
is where chaos reigns supreme.
And that was proven
again last week
in qualifier number one,
where SHREDDIT BRO!,
after World Championship VII,
defied all odds,
mowed through the competition
and earned a spot
in the Golden Bolt
championship field.
[Chris] SHREDDIT BRO! joins
the three most recent
Giant Nut winners,
End Game, Tantrum and SawBlaze,
all of whom received
automatic bids.
But four spots are
still up for grabs.
Well, the bots are
definitely hungry for glory.
So let's see what's
in store for tonight.
Reese Ewert
and the ambidextrous
assassin, Fusion
will collide with one of the
most iconic robots in the sport,
the king of control, Whiplash.
[Kenny] The nutty
professor Martin Mason
has MaDCatTer
ready to bare it's claws
against the horizontal
horror show, Bloodsport.
[Chris] They all love to brawl.
Bunny Sauriol and Malice
will face a pink and yellow bot
that will turn you
black and blue,
HiJinx.
[Kenny] But we kick things off
with champion designer Aren Hill
and his ferocious
flywheel flipper, Blip.
Taking on the
bulletproof Brazilians,
the incinerator from
south of the equator
Black Dragon.
Let's get it on!
Faruq, take it away.
Ladies and gentlemen,
are you ready?
It's robot fighting time!
In the red square,
from Mountain View, California,
forget a mountain view,
he'll throw you so high,
you'll be able to see
the curvature of the earth.
It's Blip!
[audience cheering]
[Chris] The flipper bot, Blip!
Captain Aren Hill,
of course, the
original architect
of the Giant Nut winner Tantrum,
which has an automatic bid
to the Golden Bolt tournament.
But when it comes to
Aren's younger k*ller creation,
what are you hoping
to see here Kenny?
[Kenny] Well, hopefully,
a little more of the magic
from its rookie season
where Blip made the top eight.
The flywheel tech is so cool,
it allows Blip to fire
an unlimited number of flips,
but it failed to live
up to expectations
at World Championship VII.
To make a deep run tonight,
Aren's gotta let it rip.
In the blue square,
from Itajuba, Brazil,
don't be fooled by
their cute stuffed duck.
They came here to
quack you upside in.
It's Black Dragon!
[Chris] If there's ten
members on their team,
we're gonna see
probably 12 smiles
as they enter
through the tunnel.
Julio Cortez the man
waving on the right
is their team Captain.
- I got you!
- [Chris] So what team spirit they've got, huh?
[Kenny] These guys
are the party, Chris,
and this is the exact
type of tournament
where they can shine.
Black Dragon's durability
is nearly unmatched.
-Last season, they
almost tied -[man] Whoa!
[Kenny] Bite Force's streak
of most career fights
without getting knocked out.
They've got the
goods to go deep here.
Blip's first fight is the near
indestructible Black Dragon.
We feel like we
have an advantage
on the ground
game side of things.
We're also very durable.
But it's basically
gonna be driving,
take control and keep 'em
in the air most of the match.
Blip's very much, I would say,
a control bot that we...
we can launch people.
It's hard to actually
get... get a KO from that.
So we might not win
the damage category,
but we wanna, just, hands down,
have aggression and
control taken care of.
The main strategy
is to try to control
the middle of the bots.
We got these pointy...
pointy little forks
right next to the egg beater.
And it's... has a lower
ground clearance.
If they try to get
their forks beneath us,
we're gonna toss 'em up
and try to... to win
the ground game.
We are come there
to fight against Blip.
Blip could be... could be cute,
but Mano duck is more.
- There's nothing can be cuter than, better than...
- There's not gonna be cuter...
- Yeah.
- And the luck is always with us. [chuckles]
[audience cheering] Black
Dragon! Black Dragon!
[robotic voice]
Robots, activate.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Okay, Kenny.
This is Sin City
and being the wise
guy that you are,
you put together some
odds for tonight's fights.
So what are we looking at
with Black Dragon versus Blip?
[Kenny] Well, either team
could win this Slugfest tonight,
but I've got the Brazilians
as a slight
favorite in this one.
Both bots are so tough.
Collectively, they've only
been KO'd three times,
so, to me, the question is
which weapon will
do more damage?
A ceiling scraping flip
could change things at any time,
but I like Black
Dragon's prong here.
- Blip! Blip! Blip!
- [Chris] We have three straight fights
and punch your ticket to
the Golden Bolt tournament.
Who's gonna get
win number one here?
[buzzing]
[Chris] Let the
bot battle begin!
Little saunter out
by both teams.
Uh-oh! Blip almost
got under Black Dragon.
Wanna get around to the side.
- [Kenny] Oh!
- [Chris] Now going head on.
Nice spinny flip.
Double flip.
[Kenny] Let's see if
Blip can follow it up.
There Black Dragon
pinned in the corner.
Doesn't seem like they have
quite the right
angle there, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, this is one of
those limitations of this robot.
Without momentum
to push it's opponent
up onto its flipper,
it just can't get a solid flip.
And Blip releases.
[Chris] Black Dragon
had a little trouble
with the floor.
Gabriel Bertozzi
looking to engage.
- Oh!
- [Kenny] Oh!
[Chris] There's that weapon,
that 45 pound, eight gear drum.
[Kenny] Black Dragon
taking over here.
[Chris] Uh-oh, but it looks like
the weapon on Black Dragon
has stopped momentarily.
Oh, there comes a
in on the head of Blip.
[Kenny] It is, it's
back on now Chris.
That egg beater
spinning up to full speed.
[Chris] Gosh, these
two bots are so dense,
you forget they
weigh 250 pounds.
- [Kenny] Uh-oh, Blip is on fire!
- [Chris] Oh, no!
I don't know if
we've ever seen that
the few seasons that
Blip's been around.
[Kenny] Yeah, that looks
like a bad internal fire.
That's not good.
[Kenny] Blip struggling
with its left side drive.
[Chris] The question is
can it survive now at all?
And hope that maybe Black Dragon
catches itself on fire,
but they... That
flipper still works.
[Kenny] It does, but
it just took a big shot
from that egg beater, Chris.
Blip is still very
much in this fight,
but can't make it
to the closing bell.
[Chris] Great aerial acrobatics
by Black Dragon to
get itself uninverted.
Blip, has it's face
peel back a bit...
just passed the halfway mark
in tonight's Slugfest opener.
Black Dragon is circling.
- [Chris] Whoa!
- [Kenny] Look at that.
[Chris] And another big shot.
[Kenny] Blip just
kinda waited for him,
got a flip off.
[both] Whoa!
[Kenny] Blip racking up points.
[Chris] I mean,
this is fascinating
because of the new rules
entered in the battle last season.
Black Dragon
can't just lay back,
it has to continue the attack.
[Kenny] Let's see if Black
Dragon can get around
to the back side of Blip.
That's where they can
really take advantage.
- There it is.
- [Chris] There you go, Kenny.
[shouting indistinctly]
[Chris] Under a
minute remaining.
Is there anymore life in Blip?
[Kenny] They think Blip is
gonna get knocked down.
Here they could be right.
- [shouting indistinctly]
- [Chris] This is it.
-Aren Hill's flipper stopped
in its tracks -[man] Five...
-[Chris] ...as Black Dragon now
advances -[man] four... three...
- [Chris] ...to the second round.
- two, one.
That's a knock out.
[all cheering]
We're on.
[indistinct conversation]
[Chris] Well, a
nice start by Blip
f lipping the Brazilians
head over heels
and into the corner, Kenny.
[Kenny] That's
right. But Aren Hill
just couldn't get the leverage
to land a follow up shot,
something he
struggled mightily with
as it relates to this design.
[Chris] Both teams
stayed aggressive,
but eventually,
Black Dragon started dishing out
the pain with that
egg beater weapon
and it all started
to go wrong for Blip.
[Kenny] Yeah, you could
see the fire erupt there,
a shocking moment really.
Lost drive on that left side
and started crab walking.
[Chris] Credit to Black Dragon
for continuing to
engage and attack.
Blip landed a
few more nice flips
put the Brazilians
on their head, in fact.
But Gabriel Bertozzi,
the driver of Black Dragon
was not to be denied.
Got around to the back side
and said, "That's
gonna be a knockout."
[indistinct conversation]
- [Chris] Julio.
- Hello, guys.
- [chuckles]
- Good morning.
Congratulations!
Thank you. Thank you.
Uh, was it nice to see
-somebody else's robot
catch on fire -Yeah, yeah.
For a change?
- Yeah.
- That's the first time
we ripped with
a hurl but on fire,
- so, yeah.
- Yeah.
It's always nicer
to be them, not us.
- [all laughing]
- The first time
that Black Dragon doesn't fire
and the other robot
so, thanks God.
[chuckles]
Mateus, we talk
about this all the time,
whenever you guys
come out of the tunnel,
- [chuckles] - your
entire team is so happy.
All you ever...
What's going on back
there that we don't know?
We... We can't tell to you.
[all laughing]
-'Cause we... It's our secret is all.
-It's our secret.
A Brazilian secret,
to you... I can't tell to you.
[Chris] Dare it up,
we can't wait to see
your smiling faces
in the semi-finals.
Let's go.
Let's go! [laughs]
- [Chris] Hi, Aren.
- Hey, guys.
I... I know it's obviously
a bit disappointing.
How shocked were you
that you're the one that
caught on fire in this fight?
- Uh, a little based on their past history.
- [all laughing]
Blip has now been around
for a couple of seasons.
Where is this robot in
its BattleBots growth?
Uh, if it's back next year
you're gonna see some
decent size changes to it.
This is a second round
of just rev up hardware
with some small tweaks,
but, uh, we, uh, see
what we can get...
get back to happy with
during the off seasons.
- [audience cheering] -
Well, we all support you.
We look forward to seeing
what you bring next season.
Thank you. Congrats
to these guys.
[all] Blip! Blip! Blip! Blip!
[Aren] Awesome move.
- I don't like being on fire.
- [laughing]
You'll get used
to it when it's...
[Aren] I don't
wanna get used to it.
-it's a lot of times. Thank you, guys.
-[man] Had a lot of fun.
[Chris] I gotta tell you,
looking back at last season,
including the playoffs,
and now once match
through the Sin City Slugfest,
that was as complete a match
I thought that Black
Dragon has put together.
[Kenny] Absolutely. And
that's only the second time ever
that Blip's been
knocked out. Impressive.
[Chris] So the Brazilians
move one step closer
to a berth in the
Golden Bolt tournament.
They will face the winner
of MaDCatTer versus Bloodsport,
which is coming
up after the break.
That's right.
When we return,
it's one of the
biggest characters
in all of robot combat,
Professor Martin Mason,
taking on a heavy
hitting horizontal
that is all about the headshot.
MoreBattleBots: Champions, next.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Welcome back to
tonight's Sin City Slugfest,
where fan favorites
and rising stars
are duking it out
in hopes of earning a spot
in the second annual
Golden Bolt tournament.
Whichever team
survives tonight's gauntlet
will join End Game,
Tantrum, SawBlaze,
and last week's winner
SHREDDIT BRO!
In the exclusive field.
All right. The first round
continues right now
with a matchup between
MaDCatTer and Bloodsport.
- [audience cheering] - A
pair of fourth year teams
who both made the
playoffs last season
but MaDCatTer was the only one
who managed to get a win,
making it to the round of
Martin Mason and
his college kids,
they're more than just...
"Yeah!"
They got a ferocious bot.
They definitely do.
World Championship
VII was a breakout year
for this team and
especially driver Calvin Iba.
MaDCatTer's a four
wheel drive, vertical spinner.
It's quick, scrappy
and packs a punch.
But this is a tough
matchup here,
against one of the hardest
hitting horizontals in the sports.
Yeah, Bloodsport
always a fun one to watch
but I don't know exactly
what I'm gonna get out of 'em,
like, they could go
down in, like, 30 seconds.
Or they could hang three minutes
or destroy their
opponent in a minute.
[Kenny] Yeah, before their
World Championship VII season,
they completely redesigned
the robot's insides,
and that's produced some misses
but it also gave us some hits.
This bot could win
this entire tournament
or it could get knocked
out in thirty seconds.
It's like robot roulette
with Bloodsport
but that also makes
it a scary bot to fight.
[audience cheering]
Let's check it out.
Faruq.
[Faruq] In the red square,
from Pomona, California,
he'll draw a chalk feline
around your dead body.
It's MaDCatTer!
-[Chris] And there's the
wild man -[all cheering]
Martin Mason and team MaDCatTer.
Big time fan favorite
that always puts on a show.
- What setup are they going with tonight, Kenny?
- [man] Oh, yeah!
[Kenny] Well, this is an
anti-horizontal configuration
that Tombstone's Ray Billings
actually helped Martin develop.
[Kenny] He built it using
motor mounts from a jeep
-to hang the armor and said
it's designed -[all cheering]
[Kenny] ...to feed Bloodsport
up into their 45 pound weapon.
Tonight...
is its first road test.
[Faruq] In the blue square,
from Cambridge, Massachusetts,
he is scheming
and hoping to steal
your hemoglobin.
It's Bloodsport!
[Chris] Team Bloodsport
led by 26 year
old Justin Marple.
This is one of four
horizontal weapons
that we will see this evening.
Kenny, tell our viewers
what the team is
bringing to the bots.
[Kenny] That's their
It has the best reach
of any weapon in their arsenal.
It is powerful enough
to end this fight
in just one shot.
But against a big wedge,
Justin really has to pick
and choose his spots.
Connecting with the
sides of MaDCatTer
will be key.
Bloodsport, they got
that big, scary spinner.
You know what?
We're gonna show 'em
what a little bit
of geometry does.
Calvin has spent a lot
of time on the off season
analyzing the geometry
and that's what we're
gonna take advantage of.
We armored up with a big plow.
We got an extra 40 pounds AR.
We're gonna send them
sailing way up in the air.
Bloodsport's gonna
be on life support.
So we had the long
bar for this matchup.
Um, the long bar is our most...
Like, the longest and
the, uh, most aggressive,
uh, weapon that we have.
So we're really gonna aim, just,
try not to go over
straight to the weapon
and try to, like, see if we...
They can make a mistake.
We always look for mistakes
in the... in the opposing driver.
You know, do they
turn a little bit too much?
Do they expose a
wheel in a certain way?
Do they... Maybe they box rush
we can kinda get around them
at, like, an unexpected time?
So we're just looking for that
mistake, looking for that opening.
Um, and if we can
get that one good hit,
I think the... the
match is ours after that.
We have the nose
and whiskers too.
[man] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[robotic voice]
Robots, activate.
[all cheering]
[Chris] Both teams
made deep runs
in this event last
season, Kenny.
But you're giving MaDCatTer
the slight edge here.
[Kenny] Yeah,
Bloodsport definitely has
the power advantage here
but I think MaDCatTer
has proven to be
a little bit more consistent.
And while I do love
Calvin Iba's
aggressive driving style,
he's gotta make sure
he's not too aggressive.
That can get you in trouble
especially against a robot
with one-shot knockout power.
[robotic voice] Red team, ready.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Please don't
lead with your head.
We have new
rules enforcing that.
[robotic voice]
Blue team, ready.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] And that big, white tube
is Bloodsport's self-righter,
added a flame
to it for this fight
in order to look,
"more badass."
[all cheering]
Fight! Fight! Fight!
[buzzing]
[Chris] Let the
bot battle begin!
Uh, MaDCatTer, that thing
can scoot around the box.
Bloodsport's weapon
up to full speed.
- [Chris] Oh, heavenly shot!
- [Kenny laughing]
[Chris] Let's see if
Bloodsport can get up
with that self-righter.
No, it's smokin'.
Wow.
Oh, they're not gonna
touch it, are they?
Grab it with the arm.
[Chris] Teasing.
Got a little tease.
- Okay.
- [man imitating a cat]
- Let's go!
- [Chris] Come on, get up big boy.
I got you. Oh my gosh!
- [man] Seven, six...
- [Chris] That was unbelievable.
-five, four -[Kenny]
MaDCatTer waving goodbye
- to Bloodsport.
- [man] ...three...
- [Kenny] Thanks for playing.
- [man] ...two
- one.
- [Kenny] Oh, man.
Knockout!
[audience cheering]
[Chris] And
MaDCatTer's moving on
in 37 seconds.
Oh, yeah!
Whoo!
[Chris] Kenny, counter to what we
are used to seeing against horizontals,
MaDCatTer actually
avoided the box rush here.
They wanted
Bloodsport to spin up,
so they could use the
geometry of that new plow,
and bada bing, bada
boom, bada bang!
- Whoo!
- [Kenny] All it takes is one...
All it takes is one shot.
What a nasty one,
right on the corner.
You see the blade on
Bloodsport connects there
and it just sends them flying.
You see the difference
in stability there,
between MaDCatTer
and Bloodsport.
Just one little shot
and it sends Bloodsport
flying right into the corner.
- My goodness.
- [Chris] Yeah, I was thinking that
Bloodsport would
be able to self-right,
then I saw the smoke and I
said, "God, you're dumb Chris."
[Kenny laughs]
[crowd cheering]
- Man.
- [Chris] Hey, Martin!
Thirty-seven seconds.
That's awesome, dude.
You know what?
I'm so proud of these kids.
You know and man, I'll
tell you what that weapon,
it was spinning hard,
but we brought the
hard armor, folks.
That's what it takes.
You know what? We
want to put on a good show.
You're gonna see
us again tonight.
-[voice croaks] You bet on that!
-[Chris laughs]
[crowd cheering]
Martin, an exciting
fight as always.
Did you expect to get an
early knock-out like that?
You know what? I was telling
Calvin right before the fight,
take it slow, take it strategic.
You got to be careful
with these big hitters.
But you know what? It just
went right the way we wanted.
We got 'em up in the air,
there was a big hit on their
head that's a little bit fragile.
And you know what?
Bloodsport? They're gonna
be helping the blood bank.
[Chris and Kenny laugh]
[Chris] I love it.
Martin, rest your robot
and rest your voice.
We'll see you later
tonight in the semis.
Thank you, whoo!
[crowd cheering]
Martin, 37 seconds?
He couldn't lasted, like,
- What's he doing?
- People forget how hard MaDCatTer hits.
You know, they're known for their
durability, but man, what a shot.
And just got the
better of Bloodsport,
who hits extremely hard as well.
They have actually
destroyed themselves.
So, Martin Mason
and his gritty kitty
advance to the second
round on tonight's Slugfest,
where they'll need
to sharpen their claws
for a date with Black Dragon.
And up next, get
ready for some fireworks
as two more horizontal
spinners go head-to-head.
We got a couple
of veteran squads
with Malice taking on HiJinx.
And Malice captain,
Bunny Sauriol
is sporting a secret
weapon tonight.
That's right, Ray
Billings and Tombstone
is adding some
firepower to her pit crew.
We'll see what kind of
death and destruction
the king of kinetic
energy brings
when we return on
BattleBots: Champions.
[crowd cheering]
We continue on with more
BattleBots: Champions.
Again, to punch a ticket to
the Golden Bolt Tournament,
these teams have
to run the gauntlet
and win three straight
fights on a quick turnaround.
That makes the w*r
of attrition a big factor
as they advance
through the bracket.
So let's catch up with the
nutty professor, Martin Mason
to see what kind of
shape MaDCatTer is in
after winning their
first round fight.
We just finished our
fight with Bloodsport.
You know what? It
was a one-hit knockout
but that doesn't mean we didn't
have a crazy amount of damage.
I'll tell you what? Those kids,
they are working right now,
back in the pit,
they're grinding,
they're welding, they
are putting it together.
And you know what?
We're gonna be at a 100%.
Let me tell you who
we are fighting next.
MaDCatTer vs Black Dragon.
It's a rematch this year
and they took it last time
in a very close decision.
But I'll tell you what? We've
upped our ground game,
we're gonna show
that we are the beast.
[Chris] And it looks like MaDCatTer's
next opponent, Black Dragon,
is already in the test
box passing safety.
It's a race against
time in the Slugfests.
We'll see that
match-up later tonight
but let's keep the
action rolling along
with a pair of deadly
horizontal spinners.
It is Malice versus HiJinx.
Both teams have been
competing for three years now.
But let's start with the
squad led by Bunny Sauriol.
She had a great Season VII.
She was so happy,
even though she lost
in the Round of 16,
because they fell to Minotaur.
She really feels like her robot
has made some significant leaps.
[Kenny] Absolutely. Early
in World Championship VII,
we were questioning this
team's position in the sport.
They ended up
making the tournament,
advancing to the Round
of 16 for the first time
and then went three minutes
with the top-seeded Minotaur.
- Minotaur!
- [Kenny] They lost the decision
but Malice proved it can
dance with the big boys.
And just like in the play-offs,
Ray Billings, yes, the
king of kinetic energy
is helping Bunny again tonight.
That's a big confidence booster,
having that guy in your corner.
Hi-five, guys, let's do it.
[Chris] In the meantime,
it's been a few months
since we've checked in on
Jen Herchenroeder and HiJinx.
And hopefully, over that time,
they have been able
to dial in their bot,
because things were not
great for them last season.
[Kenny] Yeah, they
went one in three
and missed the Round of 32
for the first time
in their career.
The Slugfest is the
perfect opportunity
to stack some wins and
start climbing back up
theBattleBots pecking order.
A spot in the World
Championship VIII
may depend on Jen and the
team's performance tonight.
[Chris] All right. Well, let's
hear from both captains.
A couple of familiar faces
as they get their
robots into place.
What makes HiJinx a
tough opponent for Malice
is that we are both huge
horizontal hitters. That's what we do.
Whenever you get
horizontal vs horizontal,
you're gonna have big sparks.
You don't know
what's gonna happen.
We're gonna go ahead and do
everything we can to protect our nuts
because they are very exposed.
So we're gonna build... put a
big steel plate in front of 'em
in the hope that HiJinx
can't get to our nuts
before we can take them out.
Last season was the first time
HiJinx did not make
it to the Round of 32
and, honestly, that
didn't sit right with me.
Going into this tournament,
we definitely want to
come out with some wins.
You're gonna see a more
aggressive driving strategy.
I think that's gonna pay off.
We have a newly-reinforced
horizontal tail.
We learnt some lessons from
our fight with Captain Shrederator.
And we're bringing
back our iconic long bar.
So, in theory, we
should be able to hit them
before they hit us
in every exchange.
We're ready to do some damage.
[man] Okay.
[referee] Is everything good?
- Yeah.
- All right.
All right.
Oh, you're good?
[metal clanging]
[robotic voice]
Robots, activate.
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] Okay,
robot anatomy time.
Where are Malice's nuts and why
do they need protecting, Kenny?
[Kenny chuckles]
Well, Malice has nuts
on both the top and
bottom of its frame.
They hold the chassis
together and make it easier
to take the robot apart,
but with HiJinx's
undercutter and its tail,
which they'll use as a wedge,
those nuts could be in
the line of fire tonight.
- So, you know, you got to protect them.
- [Chris] Fair enough.
And while Bunny and
Jen lead their teams,
Malice's driven by Bunny's
husband, David Liaw.
HiJinx by veteran
builder Orion Beach.
[crowd chanting]
Fight! Fight! Fight!
[chanting continues]
[alarm beeps]
[Chris] Let the
bot battle begin!
[Chris] Oh, that broke down.
Malice already up to speed,
taking it right to HiJinx.
[Kevin] Yeah, Malice with a
quick spin-up and box rush there.
- [Chris] Orion B, you gotta get out of that corner.
- [Kenny] Oh!
Piece of HiJinx's
wheel went flying there.
[Chris] Oh, nice
counter-shot by HiJinx.
But the wheel on the
right side of the robot's
hanging on for
dear life now, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yup, that
is a big problem.
- [Chris] Oh!
- And Malice's going after the other tire now!
[Chris] Veteran driver David
Liaw working it for Malice.
[Kenny] Both wheels in
big trouble there, Chris.
[Chris] Oh, yeah. Those don't
look great for mobility, Kenny.
[Kenny] No and Malice's gonna
have to speed it and David Liaw...
-Oh! -[Chris] Oh! A huge hit.
Yeah, that's right.
Right on their frame.
[Kenny] That was a
great job by Orion Beach.
He used the tail to full turn
Malice into their weapon,
trying to do it again here.
[Chris] Well, we're coming
up on the one-minute mark
and despite HiJinx's wheels
looking kinda like a chew toy,
they've been holding
their own, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, but they are
really struggling to move now.
All Malice needs is another
shot or two on the wheel.
[Chris] Oh, boy!
[Kenny] Malice took a big
bite out of HiJinx's wheel there.
[Chris] And that
bite has done it.
This one might be over.
Great work by Malice just
saying, "You know what?
We're gonna make
you incapacitated."
[Kenny] I think HiJinx's
weapon is stuck to the floor now!
- That will make it tough to move.
- [referee] Ten! Nine!
- Eight! Seven!
- [Chris] Makes it very, very challenging.
- I'm no engineer.
- [Kenny laughs]
- [referee] Four! Three!
- [Chris] So Bunny Sauriol's team opens the Slugfest
- with a very pragmatic performance.
- Two! One! Knockout!
[Chris] And Malice's moving
onto the second round.
Jen!
I love you.
I wish you could save her.
[Chris] Kenny, HiJinx thought
it could keep Malice at bay
by leaning with its tail.
But driver David
Liaw had other ideas.
[Kenny] Yeah, we saw a very
patient approach from Malice.
Didn't force any shots.
Waited for HiJinx to expose
its wheels, then pounced.
[Chris] And that was the shot
that really put the
nail in the coffin.
Basically grinded those
exposed wheels down to the axle.
[Kenny] Yeah and that
lowered the chassis so much
the weapon was
touching the floor.
And no traction
[chuckles] means no action.
Strong start for
Bunny Sauriol's team.
- [Chris] Bunny...
- Yes! Hi!
Hi, congratulations!
Oh, thank you.
It was a great fight, you know,
HiJinx is such a great robot,
and you never know how it's
gonna go with two horizontals.
Especially one as
hard-hitting as HiJinx.
Well, you took
them on quite a ride
in part because
they couldn't move.
Your husband did a masterful job
of chopping up the
wheels on the other robot.
- Right?
- My husband's a great driver
and I'm very proud of him.
[Chris] All right,
well, we'll find out
which team you
will face in a bit.
Congratulations, excellent work.
Thank you.
Unquestionably, Season
VII was a great run for Malice
and they have continued things
here in the Sin City Slugfest.
That's right. Ray Billings
is a good luck charm, man.
I don't think that's what
he likes to be called.
- [chuckles] - I think
that's too cute for him.
And so Malice moves
onto the second round
to take on the winner
of our next match-up.
One of the best
drivers in the sport,
faces off against
one of the surliest.
It's Matt Vasquez and Whiplash
taking on Reese
Ewert and Fusion.
That is next
onBattleBots: Champions.
[crowd cheering]
This is BattleBots:
Champions, Sin City Slugfest
and we just saw Malice deliver
the third knock-out of the night
against fellow
horizontal spinner, HiJinx.
And we caught up with
Captain Bunny Sauriol
to see how her bot
held up during that fight.
In our fight against HiJinx,
we took very little damage.
She did get our
weapon, our main weapon
but we'll get that welded
up and screwed down
and ready to go again.
This is absolutely a
tournament of grueling attrition.
You have to have parts ready.
You have to have them prepared.
We are ready. We
have prepared for this.
We have done what
we needed to do.
We've done all the preparation.
Now it's just
getting through it.
[Chris] Well, Bunny Sauriol will
be watching our next fight closely
as she will face the
winner in the second round.
We're taking about
Whiplash and Fusion.
Two teams led by families
who have helped build
the world of robot combat.
After years of
coming up just short,
Matt Vasquez is hoping
to win tonight's bracket
and put himself to
position in finally snag
someBattleBots hardware.
While Reese Ewert, part
of the storied Whyachi clan
is hungry to show
off the full potential
of his dual-weapon
death machine.
[crowd cheering]
[Faruq] Fusion!
I'm ready to tear
some [bleep] up
and get my shot
at the Golden Bolt.
Same old Fusion, just, you know,
trying not start on fire.
[Chris] It is a barbeque
here onBattleBots.
The best way to not start
on fire is to not take damage.
- [Kenny] Oh!
- [Chris] Oh, MaDCatTer taking it to Fusion
which is on fire!
Better yet would be to
hit them with your weapon.
So they are the
ones getting beat up.
[Matthew] Fusion will deal
massive amounts of damage.
We have seen robots they lost to
come out into in
a bucket of parts.
[Chris] More chunks
coming off of Witch Doctor.
[Matthew] Win or lose, we're
gonna have a messed up robot
by the end of this flight.
[Reese] Matt is a pretty
good driver. I'm a bad one.
That's why I have a
lot of weapons though
it makes up for my driving.
[Chris] Oh!
[Reese] I'm sure he's gonna
come out of the box-rush,
so it's probably gonna
be a situation where
right away, I get
backed-up to the wall.
I'm gonna have to try and turn
and hit them with the horizontal.
[Matthew] Good strategy for this
match is to get them flipped over.
'Cause if they're upside down,
their vertical spinner
is completely ineffective
and they can only rely
on the horizontal spinner.
So we're gonna run our
plow for horizontal spinners.
Try to get him flipped over.
Maybe we'll have to take
some hits from the vertical.
[Kenny and Chris] Oh!
But once we get him flipped
over, we can go to town on him.
[crowd cheering]
Have you checked
the tunnel to see if
Reese Ewert's bot's on fire yet.
- [chuckles] - 'Cause
I mean, that's...
It's basically a coin-flip
with him every time.
I know. It seems like
they can't get it right.
Listen, the god news is,
their robot is very dangerous.
- Mm-hmm.
- Those two weapons work extremely well.
They're always a threat.
Um, you know, it's a
hard robot to plan for.
However, many times
Fusion ends up defeating itself.
Let's see if it happens
tonight. Faruq...
[crowd cheering]
[Faruq] In the red square,
from Dorchester, Wisconsin...
He's just a hunka,
hunka burning rage.
It's Fusion!
[Chris] The always entertaining
Reese Ewert, pushing out his bot.
I'm just looking forward
to the post-fight chat.
[Kenny] Yeah, never know what's
gonna come out of this guy's mouth,
and that's, kind of,
his robot's MO, too.
With a dual-weapon set-up,
he's just trying to
harness so much power
that it's caused his system
to overheat in the past.
But, say it with me now folks.
If Reese can get it dialed
in tonight though, watch out.
[Chris laughs]
[Faruq] In the blue square,
from Thousand
Oaks, California...
Watch you back 'cause this
bot turns vertebrae into hurt-brae.
It's Whiplash!
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] And here is,
the Vasquez family.
Dad Jeff, mom Debbie
and the driver and captain
Matt there on the right.
They actually got knocked
out of the WC VII Tournament
by Reese's brother Jake.
So, Kenny, how does Matthew
Vasquez avoid dropping
two-straight to the Ewerts?
[Kenny] Well, as Matt said,
he's ditched his vertical
spinner and front forks
for a heavily armored plow,
which you could see there.
He wants to ram that into
Fusion's horizontal spinner,
knock the bot off-balance
and get it to destroy itself.
Look for Matt to attack
that side of Fusion.
[Chris] All right,
well this is a matchup
between two completely
opposing philosophies.
While Fusion is a
weapon on wheels,
Whiplash is relying
solely on its lifter
and that means Matt Vasquez
is gonna have to be perfect.
There's only one spot
left in the second round.
Which team's gonna take it?
It's Fusion, it's Whiplash
and it's next on
BattleBots: Champions.
[robotic voice]
Robots, activate.
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] Welcome back
to BattleBots: Champions
where Whiplash and
Fusion are ready to clash.
Winner advances to the second
round of tonight's Slugfest.
Kenny, what's gonna be
the difference in this one?
[Kenny] All about driving.
If Reese Ewert can keep his
vertical weapon squared up,
he's got a shot to do
some real damage.
But look for Matt Vasquez
to be very aggressive here.
He wants to get Reese
to make unforced errors.
[crowd chanting]
Fight! Fight! Fight!
[chanting continues]
[Chris] A pair of power-players
going at it in this one.
Vasquez, Whyachi...
Who'll move one step closer
to the field of champions?
[alarm buzzing]
[Chris] Let the
bot battle begin!
Oh, shot by Whiplash!
That was a huge hit!
[Kenny and Chris] Oh!
- [Kenny] See ya later!
- [Chris] We got flames already
and it looks like
a family barbeque
starting early tonight, Kenny.
- [Kenny chuckles] - [Chris]
Can Fusion even move?
Wow. Or is con-fusion
just confused?
[Kenny] Well, at least
Fusion has been consistent.
Consistently on fire.
[Chris] Ah, and here is
Whiplash looking to clean the grill.
[Kenny] I mean, there's... Matt
Vasquez just placing Fusion...
[Chris] "Well, I'm gonna put
you over here like a little baby.
Just go on that top
shelf and hang out there."
[Kenny laughs]
[Chris] Need a smoke
break? Hit the corner.
-And he's waving goodbye! He's taunting him!
-[referee] Ten!
- Nine! Eight! Seven!
- [Chris] Here comes the countdown!
- [referee] Six! five!
- [Kenny] Oh, boy.
- [referee] Four! three!
- [Chris] All right, let's get ready...
- Two! One! Knockout!
- for a Reese Ewert post-game interview.
- [Kenny] Yeah.
- Great job.
[crowd cheering]
[Chris] Kenny, look out,
here comes Whiplash.
[Kenny] Boom! A perfect
box rush from Matty Vasquez.
Reese never knew what
hit him right on top of Fusion
with that follow-up shot
and we've seen
this movie before,
but this was more
like a short film.
[Chris] Yeah, Fusion ends up
inverted in the first 10 seconds,
in flames within 12,
and then starts to go for a ride
courtesy of one of the best
drivers around, Matt Vasquez,
who's like, "Ooh, have you
seen our nifty little BattleBox?"
[Kenny] Yeah, and again, he
is just an artist with Whiplash.
Look at how he places
him in the corner.
Scoops him up and stay there.
- [Chris] Hi, Matt.
- Hey.
Did you just taunt Reese
Ewert and wave goodbye to him
after you put him
up on that top?
Uh, yeah. Honestly wasn't too sure
of my strategy should be for this fight.
Uh, Fusion's got a
vertical on one side,
horizontal on the other side.
Both are equally scary.
But, yeah, we just got to
him up before they spun up
and that's all we
needed to do, apparently.
We got little bit lucky.
It was a great choice
on the configuration, man.
I know you also wanted
to flip him. Is that why?
Uh, [chuckles] yeah.
Well, the things about
Fusion is, once you...
when are they right side up,
the vertical is deadly and
the horizontal is deadly.
When they are upside down,
it's really just the horizontal
you got to worry about.
And our plow is good
at fighting horizontals.
So once I got him
flipped over once,
I was like, "Okay,
they gotta stay like this,
otherwise, we
could be in trouble."
And, when I got him flipped
on the wall, I just had to be
very careful that they
were actually stuck,
'cause they could've very easily
landed back on their wheels,
and that could've been a
different story, but yeah,
we're happy we got a
little lucky and, great fight.
Sounds great. Congrats.
Thank you.
[crowd cheering]
- [Chris] Hi, Reese.
- Howdy.
Um...
were you surprised
that your robot,
caught on fire in 10 seconds?
Uh, you know it seems it
happens more frequently
that I would like
it to, but, uh...
he's such a good driver,
he was on me in
like a half a second.
- Back home I go.
- [chuckles softly]
[crowd laughing]
[Reese] It's funny, my
dad built this wood shed
and he said, uh, "Reese if you
come back with a nut or a bolt
you can stay in this wood shed.
Otherwise, you're staying
in a van down by the river."
[all laughing]
I was a little confused,
'cause that doesn't
sound too bad to me,
but I think he wanted me to win.
Oh, Reese, you
are one of a kind.
Thank you so much for the
entertainment this season.
- We will catch you in season VIII, brother.
- Pleasure.
[Chris] Okay, so, with Whiplash,
advancing to face Malice,
the second round of
tonight's Slugfest is all set.
Up next, MaDCatTer and
Black Dragon will kick things off.
It's gonna take two
more wins to join
End Game, Tantrum,
SawBlaze, and SHREDDIT BRO!
In the Golden Bolt Tournament.
Who's gonna punch
their ticket tonight.
We will find out
as BattleBots
Champions continues.
[audience applauding
and cheering]
[Chris] Welcome back
to BattleBots Champions.
We are just three fights
away from finding out,
which team will earn
the second at-large bid,
to this year's Golden
Bolt Tournament.
And it's survival
of the fittest here
in the second round
of tonight's Slugfest.
Still alive are the
unbreakable Brazilians,
Black Dragon.
The college professor,
Martin Mason and his
versatile vertical
spinner, MaDCatTer.
Bunny Sauriol's Malice, a
team that's been on a tear
since the end of last season.
And Whiplash, led by Matt
Vasquez who nearly made it
to the Golden Bolt
Tournament a season ago.
So, let's get to
our first match-up.
This is a good one.
Black Dragon,
MaDCatTer, Martin Mason,
one-hit wonder in his quarter
final victory over Bloodsport.
But, in addition to a spot in
the final being on the line here,
this fight is also
about revenge.
Black Dragon eliminated Martin
and his crew of college kids
from the World
Championship VI Tournament.
And Kenny, apparently
the gritty kitty,
does hold a grudge.
[Kenny] Yeah, 100%, but it's a,
"I want to smash your bot into tiny
pieces in a loving kind of way" grudge.
Now, an X-factor in
this rematch is that
current Black Dragon
driver, Gabriel Bertozzi
was not with the team
the first time they met.
The 23-year-old was a rock
star at World Championship VII.
And looked great in
their first fight tonight,
but maybe MaDCatTer
driver, Calvin Iba,
- can catch him off guard here.
- [crowd cheering]
[Calvin] Ooh, yeah.
[whooping]
This is the big rematch
we've been waiting for,
and I'll tell you what folks,
we're gonna go weapon
to weapon with them,
and I'll tell you what's
gonna happen folks,
they're gonna make a mistake
because they can't help it.
MaDCatTer and Santa Claus
have something in common,
When we hit 'em, they're slayed.
We're gonna
take it, all the way.
We want to get
into that Golden Bolt
and I'll tell you
what folks, this cat,
it's got eight lives left folks.
You're gonna see it keep coming.
We know about MaDCatTer that
we need to hit him a lot
because MaDCatTer doesn't stop.
In my opinion,
when you get there
and control the
center of the arena,
it's much easier
to win the fight, so
I will try to do that
and always point the
front of our robot to them, so
they hit us only in the
front and not in the back
or in the wheels,
and I think that we
will... we'll handle well.
[audience chanting] MaDCatTer,
MaDCatTer, MaDCatTer, MaDCatTer,
[robotic voice] Robots activate.
[Chris] Kenny, for MaDCatTer,
we know about that weapon,
called Small Fry what about
the attachments in front?
[Kenny] Well, they call
those their kitten heels.
Calvin Iba wants to
get around to the sides
and get under Black Dragon.
These little wedges
should help them do that.
[Chris] They also have
the minibot, "Gassy Cat"
along for the ride.
For Black Dragon,
same old, same old.
[Kenny] Yeah, that's
right. No changes.
They're gonna go right
at MaDCatTer as well.
[Chris] I think we're
gonna have another classic.
[robotic voice] Red Team, ready.
[all] Oh, yeah.
[audience exclaiming]
[robotic voice]
Blue Team, ready.
[all] Yeah.
Let's go!
[Chris laughs]
[robotic crescendo]
[audience chanting]
Fight, fight, fight, fight.
[Chris] MaDCatTer.
Black Dragon.
One of these teams
is heading to the final.
The other is heading home.
[buzzer sounds]
[Chris] Let the
bot battle begin!
MaDCatTer going
face-to-face with Black Dragon
and tossing it
in the air, twice.
[Kenny] This is what we expected,
a nasty one from the get-go.
[Chris] And then shove
it into the upper deck.
[Kenny] Oh this
is just a brawl here.
But so far, MaDCatTer is the
one landing most of the shots.
[Chris] Black Dragon's
drum isn't spinning now either.
- And MaDCatTer is taking advantage...
- [Kenny] Oh.
[Chris] ...slams it into
the rails and is just shot
with that 100-pound pulverizer.
[Kenny] Well, looks like the
Brazilian's weapon is fine.
Black Dragon going
on the offence here.
- Trying to look for a shot.
- [Chris] Oh.
Oh, they went up to the minibot.
[Chris] Oh, Gassy Cat still working though,
don't worry, he'll be back, meow, meow.
Get your gas outta here.
Brazilians are starting
to punch back here,
landed a few good
shotsto that drum.
Oh, here we go, face-to-face.
- Uh-oh, thank God.
- [Kenny] O h.
[Kenny] And that's the thing
with Black Dragon, Chris,
they are never out of a fight.
Oh, ran into the
k*ll saw slit there.
[Chris] Black Dragon's
trying to gnaw away
at the sides of MaDCatTer.
- [Kenny] Oh, look out.
- [Chris] Shifty move from Calvin Iba.
[Kenny] MaDCatTer's
been impressive so far.
[Chris] Yeah, but it's weapon is
not functional right now Kenny.
I don't know if it's been
cut down by choice or not.
[all exclaiming]
[Kenny] A handstand
there from the gritty kitty.
I do think you're right
Chris MaDCatTer's weapon
might be out of commission.
[Chris] And in the meantime,
Black Dragon taking advantage
at the 90-second mark.
Ah, but Calvin Iba
says, not so fast.
Nice job pinning Black Dragon.
MaDCatTer is still
very much alive.
[Kenny] Yup, those kitten
heels are holding up well for him.
He's gotta be very aggressive
here for the rest of this fight.
Little over a minute to go.
MaDCatTer has
some work to do here.
- Chris?
- [Chris] Yeah, let's remember that on the judges' scorecard,
a big portion of
it, is the fact that,
if your weapon is not
working, that'll cost you points.
[Kenny] Yeah, that's
gonna show damage...
[Chris] Oh, right now
MaDCatTer is going
face-to-face against Black
Dragon, my goodness.
And I think that wheel rolling
around the arena right now,
is the MaDCatTer's minibot.
Gassy Cat got sandwiched
in that last collision.
But, there are parts all
over the box right now.
[Kenny] And I'm not cleaning up.
I'll tell you that right now.
[Chris chuckles] You're
still in charge of making sure
our sign doesn't fall down.
But okay roughly 40 seconds to
go, can the Brazilians close this out.
[Kenny] Black Dragon, that
egg beater still spinning, Chris.
[Chris] Well you can hear
it, just chew into MaDCatTer.
[Kenny] Oh, man.
[Chris] Well, it's been an uphill battle
for MaDCatTer without their weapon.
But hey, they are
refusing to give up in this.
[Kenny] Wow, look
at that MaDCatTer,
showing the power
of their drivetrain now.
[Chris] Another 15 to go.
MaDCatTer takes another
shot right to the Killsaw.
So, this will be the first fight
in the night to go the distance.
MaDCatTer dazed,
confused and now...
Oh my goodness. They didn't
expect to come back to life,
Well, well, well.
What do we have here
in the final few ticks.
[Kenny] Very interesting.
[Chris] How will
the judges see that?
Now that MaDCatTer's weapon was,
functional at the
end of this fight.
Bravo!
[Chris] Of course,
all three judges are
former BattleBots participants.
Fon Davis, Lisa Winter,
and Derek Young.
Scoring on an 11-point system.
Up to five points can
be awarded for damage.
Three for aggression
and three for control...
Good job, guys.
[congratulating each other]
[Chris] Well, Kenny, a lot of
aggression right out of the gate.
MaDCatTer seemed to have the
edge in the first minute of the fight.
But then this shot
disabled their weapon
at least for the time being.
[Kenny] That's right and the
Brazilians took full advantage
landed some huge shots,
and obliterated Gassy
Cat in the process.
[Chris] Knowing MaDCatTer's
weapon did start spinning
again in the final moments,
how would you score this, Kenny?
[Kenny] Well, in my
opinion, it doesn't matter that
their weapon wasn't
totally disabled.
In the two minutes it was
down, Black Dragon dominated
the damage category.
Calvin Iba did a hell of a
job trying to keep MaDCatTer
in the fight over that span.
But, I'm not sure it
was enough to offset
all the visible damage caused
by Black Dragon's drum.
[Chris] All right, well,
let's find out how
the judges saw it.
Faruq?
[audience cheering]
The results from
the judges are in.
The winner by
unanimous decision is,
Black Dragon.
[audience chanting] Black Dragon,
Black Dragon, Black Dragon, Black Dragon,
- Oh, my God.
- [Chris] You excited, Julio?
Here we go again.
[laughs]
All right, I know we have
a lot of work to do, because
I saw Black Dragon and
some parts are broken,
- but oh, my God.
- [laughs]
Well, how nice was it that
your bot continued to run,
that egg beater drum
continued to work,
and you shut down
your opponent's weapon.
Yeah, we have some
problems with the
speed of our egg beater in
the beginning of the tournament.
So, we fixed it for
the Sin City Slugfest
and I believe that
works very... pretty well.
MaDCatTer is an amazing
bot we fought one time last year.
And it was an amazing fight,
something like this year.
So, congratulations, guys.
- And our weapon works very well...
- [chuckles]
- [Chris] That's the best part.
- That's the best part.
And you guys didn't go up
in flames. That was good.
Yeah, yeah.
So, we like flames, but...
- not every time, every fight.
- [laughs]
- So, maybe in the next one.
- [chuckles]
Not in this one.
That's it.
Guys, congratulations,
where's the duck, dude.
I gotta, we gotta...
He's definitely
not taking a bath.
He's watching the fight, yet.
- There he is, lucky ducky.
- Lucky ducky.
Let's go.
Congratulations MaDCatTer.
We'll see you in a
few minutes in the final.
- Congratulations team Black Dragon.
- Thank you.
- Let's go! Let's go!
- [audience cheering]
[Chris] Hi, Martin.
I know it's tough when
you lose your weapon,
about a minute into this fight.
How proud are you
though of you and your kids,
that you were able
to make it to full three?
You know what folks,
nothing else is true,
that was claw-some folks.
- [laughs] - That
was an amazing fight,
Full credit to these
guys. They brought it.
I want the students in
the front though folks,
I want you guys to
recognize what they did
and I want you to
recognize, that these guys
are the beast bot
here today folks.
Oh, yeah.
Whoo!
[applause]
[Chris] Martin, you're
always super entertaining,
we can't wait to see you in your
next job as the Kool-Aid dude.
[laughing]
Congratulations to you
and your entire squad.
Thank you. And folks, you
will find the perfect animal
in your local shelter, folks.
Keep your eye on that.
Take care, folks.
[whooping triumphantly]
[Chris] Well, Kenny one
thing we always know about
the Black Dragon, it
is certainly durable.
They are so tough.
Never out of a fight
and again, this type of
grind it out tournament
is exactly what Black
Dragon is built for.
[Chris] Well, MaDCatTer
gives us a couple of
entertaining fights,
but their night is done.
Black Dragon advances
to the final where,
they'll have a chance
to punch their ticket
to the Golden Bolt Tournament.
They'll take on the winner
of our next match between
Whiplash and Malice which
is right around the corner.
There is Whiplash captain,
Matt Vasquez and his dad Jeff.
They managed to get out of that
Fusion fight without taking much damage.
But, that probably won't
be the case against the
massive spin around, Malice.
The single elimination
mayhem continues...
next on BattleBots: Champions.
All right, it's time right now
for our second semi final
of evening and up next,
it's gonna be Malice
taking on Whiplash.
And you dialed it back
the last season, season VII.
Remember, Whiplash
lost its first few fights.
Matty Vasquez and his entire
family had to work on that bot
just to get it into
the Round of 32.
But man, where it's one
night, and winner takes all,
that is a tough robot to beat.
Yeah, absolutely. This is
one of the most storied teams
in the modern era.
And their victory over Fusion
was actually their 25th career win,
tying them with SawBlaze
for number two all time.
If they can get past Malice,
not only will they advance
to the Slugfest Final,
they'll own the
two-spot outright.
History on the line
here for Matt Vasquez.
Taking on Malice and this is
a robot that in seasons past,
solid but I wouldn't
say spectacular.
I thought during last
season, in season VII,
it made significant jumps.
[Kenny] Oh, no
question about it.
They made big strides in
reliability and in offensive fire power.
So, that first round win
over HiJinx was no surprise.
And a victory over a team
like Whiplash, would be a
nice feather in their cap as they
look towards World Championship VIII.
[cheering and applauding]
What makes me
nervous about Whiplash
is they are very precise.
They know exactly how to
get in and get us flipped over.
They're gonna box rush us.
And we need to be able to
get away to spin our weapon up.
We've chosen the mayhem
configuration to go up against Whiplash,
which means we're running
the drumstick weapon,
which is a little
lighter than Big Red,
but it allows us to run forks.
And the forks are very
important for Whiplash
'cause we need
to get under them,
and get them flipped
over, so we have time
to get away to spin up.
So, we hope to keep
them on their back,
to give us enough time to get
spun up and do some big hits.
Malice has a big horizontal
spinner on the front.
It's pretty hard.
It's very reliable.
Um, so, we're not gonna
run our vertical spinner.
We're gonna run
just the lifter with the
big plow on the front.
That way we can just run
straight into their weapon,
as hard as we want,
whenever we want.
Not worrying too
much about damage,
and just worry about
controlling the fight.
So, if I drive well, we should
just be flipping them over,
pushing them into walls,
slamming them into the corners.
And if we can do
that for three minutes,
we're gonna win.
Have fun Matt. Go
get 'em. Good luck.
[whooping]
[robotic voice] Robots activate.
[audience cheering]
[robotic voice] Red team, ready.
[Chris] That's
in his third season with Malice.
But, his robot, Manta has
been making a ton of noise,
on the combat robotic circuit.
That kid is a rising star.
[robotic voice]
Blue team, ready.
- [audience cheering]
- Whoo!
[robotic crescendo]
[audience chanting]
Fight, fight, fight, fight.
[Chris] One spot left
in the Slugfest Final.
Who's gonna earn a
date with Black Dragon?
[buzzer sounds]
[Chris] Let the
bot battle begin!
- Quick box rush by Whiplash, doesn't connect.
- [Kenny] Oh.
But does there.
[Chris] Nice work, using the energy
of Malice's weapon against itself.
[Kenny] Yeah, that's right. Matt
Vasquez now taking Malice for a ride.
- [Chris] Oh, Man.
- [Kenny] And remember, Chris, he doesn't have a weapon here.
So, he's gotta control
every exchange.
- [Chris] And... oh.
- [Kenny] That's a big one.
- [Kenny] Oh, boy.
- [Chris] Oh, no and here comes the 100-pound hammer,
too on top of everything
else, pulverizing Malice.
- [Kenny] Look at the speed of Whiplash.
- [Chris] Oh.
That's carrying a 250-pound
robot across the BattleBox.
[Chris] And now, David
Liaw starting to fight back
on the sticks for team Malice.
[Kenny] And they've
gotta figure out a way,
to connect with the
sides of Whiplash.
Put together some
combos like this,
to get that bot out of the way.
[Chris] Matt Vasquez putting
a quick end to that rally.
It tosses Malice
over its shoulder.
Beautiful counter there.
Oh, there's the 100-pound
hammer on top of Malice.
And Whiplash is
dipping against it.
Nice work by David
trying to escape but oh...
I think Malice has gotta
get to the center of the box.
[Kenny] Oh, woah, woah, woah.
Yeah, that's right.
Once Whiplash
has you off balance,
it's very difficult recover.
Matt Vasquez stays on you.
[Chris] A nd now,
Malice is inverted
certainly can drive
this way, but doesn't like
having it's weapon up high.
Would rather have it down low.
[Kenny] Another issue
with being inverted, Chris,
is that it negates their force.
Whiplash should be able to
dominate the ground game,
while Malice is upside down.
[Chris] Well, Whiplash
has been in control
for most of this fight.
Let's see if Matt Vasquez
can close the deal here.
Under 90 to go.
David Liaw, an excellent
driver for Team Malice.
Boy, he's facing
a challenge here.
[Kenny] Yeah, Malice has
to find a way to flip back over.
[Chris] Uh-oh.
- Uh-oh, Kenny.
- [Kenny] Matt Vasquez might not give them the chance to.
[Chris] Oh, boy.
Look at that placement!
Wow, right on the corner of the
rails and Whiplash is waving goodbye.
Once again, it's taunting
its opponent saying,
"I'm off to the finals,
you're off to the off season,"
"Beat it kid!"
Ten, nine...
- [Chris] The countdown has started.
- eight...
- [Chris] A magnificent job, Kenny.
- seven, six...
-[Kenny] Look at that. Wheels off the floor.
-[man] five, four, three...
- [Kenny] Have a good night, Malice.
- [man] two, one.
- Knockout!
- [audience cheering]
[Chris] Whiplash
is off to the final.
[Matt] All right.
Congratulations.
Great job.
Excellent job, swinging them,
Love your shoes.
[indistinct chatter]
It was so good. It was so good.
- Awesome fight.
- [Bunny] Yeah me too.
[Chris] Kenny, Matt Vasquez
on you from the word go.
[Kenny] Yeah, no weapon,
no problem for Whiplash.
Matt used that plow
like a blast shield
to knock Malice off balance
and then dominate
the ground game.
[Chris] Gave Malice a nice
little tour of the BattleBox,
slamming it into
the rails repeatedly.
Bunny Sauriol's squad did
put together one nice flurry,
but Matt Vasquez,
again, showed the world
why he's the best
at what he does.
[Kenny] Absolutely.
He just understands
angles better than 99%
of the drivers out there.
Credit to David Liaw
for staying aggressive.
But once Malice got
inverted, it was over.
[Chris] Yeah, that
was the finishing move.
Just the right touch,
and good night now.
[Kenny] Absolutely. So
good at getting his knockouts
but just placing you right
in the perfect little spot.
[audience cheering]
Matty Vasquez, congratulations.
Thank you.
In a sport, where power is king,
your touch and
ability to place a robot
exactly where you
want it is unmatched.
How in the world do you do that?
I... I don't know. I like that
you used the word touch,
'cause that's kind of
the same word I use.
It's, uh... I feel like we're
one of the only few robots
that really just
kind of, like...
We don't win by destroying 'em,
we win by very
carefully placing you
where you don't
wanna be. [laughs]
So... but, yeah. No,
we were able to do it.
I don't know how.
And, um... We, uh...
We have a lot of damage.
Like, uh, I don't know.
Halfway through that fight,
I think we were
probably running on, like,
two of our four wheels
is what it felt like,
and maybe three
out of our four wheels.
So we definitely broke a
couple of chains in there.
But, uh, yeah, we got 'em
stuck in the nick of time,
'cause we were starting...
We were hurting at the
end of that fight for sure.
[cheering and applause]
- Jeff, we haven't talked a lot to you.
- [chuckles]
But you introduced both
your sons to this sport,
they have both excelled.
How much joy are
you and Debbie getting
watching your sons
do what they love?
Yeah, it's really
the joy of our lives,
uh, 'cause it's really
brought our family together.
It's... it's something
that they love.
We've never
forced them to do it.
I mean, Matt is a student
- and has the love of the sport, so to...
- Well, was a student.
Yeah, was a student, but
he's a student of the sport.
- [all laughing] -
Uh, you know, they...
They just love it
and... and they'll...
You know, our robots
all hate each other
but all the... the
teams love each other.
So, you know, it's just
been a great environment.
And we're blessed.
I mean, it truly is a blessing
that Trey and Greg have been
able to keep this thing going.
-And our family is... is... We're...
-Forever grateful.
- Yeah.
- Forever grateful. Truly.
It's been a wonderful
experience, so...
Hey, Matt, by the way, keep
playing that student card,
'cause when you say
you're no longer a student,
guess who's paying
his own bills, brother.
[all laughing]
- Yeah.
- No more fun.
All right, we'll see you in
a few minutes in the final.
- Congratulations.
- Thank you.
- [Matt] Whoo!
- [cheering and applause]
[Jeff] Yeah.
- All right.
- Love you so much.
- I love it.
- Oh, it was so good.
[indistinct chatter]
[Chris] All right.
So with that victory,
Whiplash overtakes the
reigning world champ, SawBlaze,
for the second most
wins inBattleBots' history.
Gives you a sense of just how
good Matt Vasquez has been
over the course of his career,
and he's still only
And, Kenny, Malice
might be a team to watch
heading into World
Championship VIII?
[Kenny] No doubt. Between
how they finished last season
and tonight's performance,
Malice is looking durable,
powerful and well-driven.
Well done, Bunny.
And now, coming up at the final,
- Whiplash against Black Dragon for the third time.
- [Kenny] Ooh.
Whiplash has won twice.
This is gonna
be great, isn't it?
[Kenny] Yes. Extreme durability
versus the ultimate tactician.
These teams have given
us some classics in the past.
Whiplash, Black Dragon III
is a robot combat fan's dream.
And, hey, I'd love to see
either of these bots square off
with an End Game or a
SawBlaze in a few weeks.
Can't wait to see
which one gets there.
That's right.
A berth in The Golden Bolt
tournament is on the line.
Who's gonna snag it?
Whiplash or Black Dragon?
Find out right after this.
[cheering and applause]
[audience cheering]
[Chris] We are back on BattleBots
Champions: Sin City Slugfest.
And what a final we
have for you tonight.
We've got two teams
that are household names
in the robot combat universe.
The unkillable Black Dragon
and the supremely
surgical Whiplash.
The winner earns a ticket to
our Tournament of Champions
and a shot at The Golden Bolt.
[Faruq] It's Whiplash!
[Matt] You know, we
fought Black Dragon twice,
we've won twice.
They have a very
tough vertical spinner.
You know, they're almost
impossible to knock out.
[Chris] Black Dragon
getting put up on the screws.
Whiplash is trying to
put him out of the box.
But they also thrive on fighting
other big spinning robots.
We are not a big spinner.
We're a control robot.
So we might be kind of their
kryptonite in a lot of ways.
[Faruq] It's Black Dragon!
[Julio] Whiplash won two times
and we have lost two
times for Whiplash,
but not this time
because we have a secret,
not secret weapon but a secret
agent just for you, Matthew.
[chuckles] That's right.
[Matt] For this fight, it's
not a horizontal spinner,
so we're putting our vertical
spinner back in the robot.
We're gonna run some of the
longest forks we have for this match.
Right when this match starts,
we are gonna go
straight at them,
try to scoop 'em up
as fast as possible.
This is a fight where it's
gonna be super aggressive,
go all out.
[Gabriel] Matthew
drives pretty well
so it's always a hard fight
to go against Whiplash.
Our strategy, we need to hit him
and hit and hit and don't stop.
We want to get revenge
against Whiplash.
It'll be a hard fight but
Black Dragon can do it.
[Matt] I think we're feeling
as confident as ever,
but, uh, Black Dragon
just had a great win.
But I think they're feeling
rather confident as well.
So, uh, I don't know.
We're gonna have to let
the robots do the talking
and see what happens.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Kenny, you'll have more on
Black Dragon's strategy in just a bit.
But just an amazing
job by both these squads
to get ready in such
a quick turnaround.
And, you know, for
a team like Whiplash,
which has craved the
Giant Nut for so long,
that didn't happen yet
again in season seven.
How important is it
for the Vasquez family
to punch its ticket to The
Golden Bolt tournament?
[Kenny] Uh, this would be huge.
Uh, again, this is a
very prestigious trophy,
I think, for them and many of
these bots in this tournament.
It is very much coveted.
So this would be a big
achievement for 'em.
All right, it's time
us to shut up.
We are so excited for the final.
Let's get to it.
Faruq.
Ladies and gentlemen,
are you ready?
[cheering and applause]
It's time for the main event!
[audience cheering]
In the red square...
This ain't no game, the
dragon wants the throne.
Better keep that thing shiny.
He'll cut you down so small,
even Tyrion will
think you're tiny.
He's no Targaryen
but he'll be burying you.
To go against him is treason.
He'll screw you up worse than
HBO screwed up the last season.
It's Black Dragon!
[cheering and applause]
Yeah!
[Chris] And here
come the Brazilians.
Kenny, we heard 'em say
they've got a secret
weapon for Whiplash.
So what is it?
[Kenny] Okay. So the
team's added some weight
to their front weapon mounts
and placed forks on
both sides of the bot.
It's a configuration
they've never used before,
and breaking it out here in
the final is definitely a risk.
But they believe these forks
are going to give them
the edge they need
in the ground game to
finally takedown Whiplash.
[cheering and applause]
[Faruq] In the blue square...
Matt Vasquez is still
a student of the game
but he's no longer in school.
He'll sign your
casket like a yearbook.
Have a great summer. Stay cool.
He'll divide your ribs
and add two black eyes.
Subtract your arms and legs.
He'll get an A-plus
in murdering bots
and celebrate with two kegs.
It's Whiplash!
[cheering and applause]
[Chris] Whiplash. Matty
Vasquez looking confident.
He loves these
high-pressure moments.
Black Dragon will be
the first vertical spinner
they face tonight,
though, Kenny.
[Kenny] Yeah, and
because of that,
they went back to their
standard lifter vert configuration,
also using their longest forks.
A little more offensive
firepower in a fight
they know will almost
certainly go the distance.
[cheering and applause]
[audience chanting]
Whiplash! Whiplash! Whiplash!
[Chris] Well, Black Dragon is
but Kenny put his bookie
hat back on during the break,
and he has the Brazilians'
favored in this one.
Tell us why, Kenny.
[Kenny] Well, beating a
great team three straight times
is just not something
we see very often.
And to me, the difference is Black
Dragon driver, Gabriel Bertozzi.
He wasn't with the team
when they lost to Whiplash.
He is uber-aggressive.
If he can put Matt Vasquez
on his back foot early,
that's a good sign
for the Brazilians.
[automated voice]
Robots, activate.
[Chris] All right. It
is win or go home.
A victory here secures a spot
at The Golden Bolt tournament.
And Black Dragon is gonna
have to do it against a team
that's always had their number.
Can Matt Vasquez make it
a perfect 3-0 against
the Brazilians?
Or will Black Dragon
finally break through?
We will find out next on
BattleBots: Champions.
[Chris] After advancing to
the final of tonight'sSlugfest,
we went under the hood
with Whiplash and Black Dragon
as they prepared to square
off against each other.
I think we're in a
great place right now.
I mean, we beat Fusion
in a quick knockout.
We beat Malice in a...
It was a more difficult fight.
The damage they did really
affected the performance of our robot.
You know, they
hit us hard enough
where we lost two of
our front drive chains.
So we for... A
lot of that fight,
we were only driving
on our two rear wheels,
which makes it difficult
to control the fight.
Even though that damage
really affected that fight,
It's not all that hard to fix.
And we should be able
to put it back together
and get it back to the
Box relatively soon.
Well, MaDCatTer
hit us pretty hard.
So we had a lot of... of uh,
pieces that we had to change.
We had a lot of damage
in the drive system
but it's still working.
Then took out one of our forks.
But, fortunately, we
brought a lot of spare parts
So we will be fine
for the next fight.
[audience cheering]
[Chris] Welcome back to the
final of tonight's Sin City Slugfest,
a fight that'll decide
the second at-large bid
into The Golden Bolt tournament.
Whiplash and Black Dragon have
mowed through the competition to get here.
But the Brazilians are 0-2
all-time against Matt Vasquez.
Can they finally take
down the game's top driver?
Or will Whiplash
earn the chance to add
some hardware
to its trophy case?
Time to find out.
[audience chanting]
Fight! Fight! Fight!
[Chris] Let the
bot battle begin.
Quick rush by Whiplash.
[Kenny] Matty said
he was gonna go
right at Black Dragon.
Whiplash, the
lower bot to start.
[Chris] Face to face
combat out of the gates.
[Kenny] Those two spinning
weapons searching for the right angle.
Let's see if Whiplash
could get their lifter involved.
[Chris] Had a chance
to get to the side
or even behind Black Dragon.
Didn't work out for Whiplash.
[Kenny] The forks on Whiplash
giving them the reach they need.
Actually can't
knock at those forks,
eaten by Black Dragon.
Great job by the Brazilians.
[Chris] That new
configuration on Black Dragon
looking awfully effective there.
[Kenny] Matt Vasquez
do a... does a good job
of driving off of Black Dragon.
Now goes right back
to work, nose to nose.
[Chris] You know,
Whiplash makes its money
by keeping the pressure
on its opponents.
And here is Vasquez,
smothering Black Dragon,
looking to regain
control of this fight.
[Kenny] Nice defensive
driving there by Bertozzi.
[Chris] Oh, look at the
job that eggbeater drum
is doing on the
face of Whiplash.
Oh, now Whiplash
scooped up Black Dragon.
Good work.
Scoring some points
with that vertical disc.
Whiplash bent back the forks on
Black Dragon's right side with that shot.
More than a minute in.
We got a close one
here in the Slugfest finals.
Oh, huge shot.
Black Dragon's on its head.
[Kenny] That's a mistake
there by Black Dragon.
This is where Matt Vasquez
can take over the fight.
[Chris] Has Black
Dragon pinned now.
The Brazilians
desperately searching
for the space to self-right.
Oh, nice little flip there.
Three, four good hits by
Whiplash in a row on Black Dragon.
[Kenny] Matt Vasquez with a
dominant 30-second stretch there.
Black Dragon has
some work to do.
[Chris] More than 90 seconds in.
Remember, Black Dragon has
fallen to Whiplash twice before.
The Brazilians hungry
for some revenge
as well as that ticket to
The Golden Bolt tourney.
[Kenny] The one
thing you could rely on
is the durability
of the Brazilians.
[Chris] Whiplash pinning
Black Dragon against the rails
but good driving by
Bertozzi to get out of there.
[Kenny] Okay, that lifter
is in play for Whiplash.
Great job. There's another lift.
[Chris] Ooh, a good
hit by Black Dragon,
dishing it out to Whiplash.
Uh-oh.
Under a minute to go,
so the Killsaws
are now active, too.
[Kenny] Black Dragon starting
to come back here, Chris.
Getting underneath Whiplash.
Bertozzi dictating the action.
Matty looking to
stay squared off.
[Chris] Oh, Black
Dragon winning that w*r.
Chalk one up for the Brazilians
to taking Whiplash...
on half a run.
[Kenny] Great job
by Black Dragon,
getting underneath Whiplash.
Whiplash has some work to do.
They may have an issue
with their drive, Chris.
- Wow.
- [Chris] Oh.
Yeah, they have a major
issue with their drive.
What sort of impression
will that leave on the judges
in the final 30 seconds?
And for Black Dragon,
it looks like they've lost
function in their weapon.
That's also gonna have a
huge impact on the scorecard.
Both bots limping
to the finish line.
Wow, that is huge,
and it officially
goes to the judges.
[audience cheering]
[speaking indistinctly]
[Chris] One of
their key criteria is,
is your weapon working
throughout the
duration of the fight?
The eggbeater drum was not.
[Kenny] And... and
that is absolutely true
but also Whiplash dealing
with some drivetrain issues.
So they're gonna take that
into consideration as well.
This is going to be close.
Whoo. Nice job.
[indistinct chatter]
[Chris] I gotta tell you, Kenny,
this is as tough a fight
to judge as we have seen.
[Kenny] Chris, so much
happened in these three minutes.
It was crazy.
Back and forth they went
from the very
beginning of this fight.
They went right at each other.
[Chris] Yeah, I don't
know how you'd call it,
because the three categories
are damage,
aggression and control.
They were both uber-aggressive.
At times, each of them
took control of this match.
[Kenny] Both drivers
did a remarkable job,
battling for the low ground.
Whiplash did manage to
invert the Brazilians, though.
Landed this power shot
as Black Dragon was
gyroing out of control.
That may give Matt Vasquez
the edge in that category.
[Chris] Okay. So where do you
stand on the damage scores?
[Kenny] Again,
very tough to call.
Whiplash lost half its drive.
But you can't ignore the fact
that they took out
Black Dragon's weapon.
All of that will play
into this decision.
I'm glad I'm not
a judge tonight.
[Chris] A legendary fight.
Let's get a result
with a berth in The Golden
Bolt tournament on the line.
Faruq.
The results from
the judges are in.
The winner by
unanimous decision is...
Whiplash!
Yeah!
[cheering and applause]
Congratulations.
[indistinct chatter]
- Congratulations.
- [Chris] Matt.
[Matt chuckles]
Congratulations.
- Thank you.
- Well done.
All right.
Listen to that sound, Matt.
It doesn't get old, does it?
Uh, I don't know. [chuckles]
I don't know. What can I say?
I kind of thought I lost that
one, if I'm being totally honest.
Um, I was totally expecting
them to call out Black Dragon.
But we got some good hits,
our disc was working pretty well.
Normally, our disc
doesn't do too much.
We actually were
able to flip 'em with it
and toss 'em with it.
So, yeah, it was... it
was a very close fight.
I'm glad we won.
Yeah.
[Matt laughs]
[cheering and applause]
Matt, what does it mean
to you and your family
to now move on to The
Golden Bolt tournament?
Uh, it is awesome.
Last year, you know, we fought
them in our Bounty final last year
and we won that one.
Then we lost to the
Bounty Boss just barely.
So, um, yeah, if we're in The
Golden Bolt, that's awesome.
We want to fight
all the best people
and we're excited. Yeah.
Congratulations, man.
- Job well done.
- Thank you.
[Matt chuckles]
-[Chris] Hello, Julio.
-Hello, my friends. How are you?
- [all laughing] -
Well, how are you?
Are you shocked with
the judges' decision?
Yeah, it's difficult
to... to judge.
That fight is pretty
close, I... I believe.
So that... that's it.
It's the third time
against Whiplash.
- Oh, my God.
- Yeah.
When will we win
against Whiplash?
[all laughing]
[Chris] Well, I'm sorry
it didn't go your way,
but it was a great,
legendary fight.
- Yeah.
- Thanks so much for the entertainment.
Thank you.
[audience cheering]
[indistinct chatter]
[Chris] Kenny, that
was two great teams,
literally slugging it out
here in the Slugfest.
Yeah, that was crazy.
Just back and forth.
It was everything
we hoped it would be.
It would've been fun to watch
Black Dragon in The Golden Bolt,
because that thing is like the
T-1000 Terminator of combat robots.
It just doesn't die.
And it proved
that again tonight.
But Whiplash with a
dangerous vertical spinner,
could be a very tough out in
The Golden Bolt tournament,
even against a
field of Champions.
And with Matt
Vasquez on the sticks,
they are never out of the fight.
[Chris] Well, all the scorecards
had Whiplash by a single point.
And we are now being told
Black Dragon filed an
appeal a moment ago.
So while the judges
review the tape,
let's take a look at the bracket
for next week'sSlugfest.
It's got a little
bit of everything.
Massive horizontal spinners,
a battle for the commonwealth
and the headliner
in the first round.
It's the man, the
myth, the legend,
Gary Gin and his
robot, Free Shipping,
taking on Ricky Willems'
towering terrors, Mammoth.
Can't wait.
Okay. We just got word
that the decision in the Black
Dragon and Whiplash fight will stand.
So Whiplash officially becomes
the second at-large team
to punch their ticket to
The Golden Bolt tournament.
They join SHREDDIT
BRO! In an exclusive group
that already features our three
most recent Giant Nut winners,
End Game, Tantrum and SawBlaze.
It's gonna be fun to
see how it all shakes out.
For Faruq, my
man, Kenny Florian,
I am Chris Rose.
We'll see you next time here
on BattleBots.
[audience cheering]
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09x02 - You Mess with the Bull, You Get the Drum
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Show is an adaptation of the American Robot Wars competitions hosted in the mid–late 1990s by Marc Thorpe, in which competitors design and operate remote-controlled armed and armored machines designed to fight in an arena combat elimination tournament.
Show is an adaptation of the American Robot Wars competitions hosted in the mid–late 1990s by Marc Thorpe, in which competitors design and operate remote-controlled armed and armored machines designed to fight in an arena combat elimination tournament.