A tall steel humanoid robot kicks a man off his feet inside a small caged fighting ring surrounded by spectators.

Can you buy the robot that kicked a human across a cage?

ByMr. Robot

A six-foot humanoid robot kicked an influencer in the stomach and sent him flying across a cage. Five days later, California told the organizers to stop.

The fight happened in San Francisco on September 18, in front of about 100 people. Content creator Frankie LaPenna faced three machines in a row. Two were EngineAI T800s, roughly six feet tall with steel frames. The third was a Unitree G1. He hurt his hand, got knocked off his feet, and one robot ended its bout with its head detached.

The clip has been seen around 1.5 million times on the X account of REK, short for Robot Entertainment Kombat. So the obvious question: can you buy the thing that did that?

A humanoid robot lying on the floor of a cage ring with its head detached, two people kneeling beside it.
One bout ended with the robot’s head coming off, according to outlets that covered the San Francisco event. AI-generated image.

The robots in the cage are real products you can order

Neither machine was designed to fight people. The T800 is made by EngineAI, a startup in Shenzhen, China. REK modified its units and says they can kick with up to 850 pounds of force. That number comes from REK, not from an independent test.

The G1 is made by Unitree and is the smaller of the two. Both are sold mainly to developers, universities and entertainment companies, not to families. The reporting on the fight gives no retail price for either one. If a reseller quotes you a figure, treat it as a quote for one unit, not a shelf price.

My honest advice: buy one of these for the walking, the balance and the demos. Do not buy one as a sparring partner.

You are paying for a strong puppet, not a fighter

This is what the viral clip hides. Human pilots drove the robots by remote control. The software mostly kept them upright and played back moves they had already practiced.

So the timing in that cage belonged to a person with a controller. There is no robot brain picking the shot. If someone sells you a humanoid as a fighting machine, that is the first claim to check.

The night also showed what these machines cost in damage. LaPenna hurt his hand on a steel frame. One robot lost its head. Metal limbs and human knuckles both break.

A small humanoid robot in a boxing stance on floor mats while a person operates it with a handheld controller.
The robots were driven by human pilots, with the software mainly keeping them balanced. AI-generated image.

In California, the fight is the illegal part, not the robot

Five days after the event, the California State Athletic Commission sent a cease-and-desist letter. It was signed by Andy Foster, the commission’s executive officer and a former mixed martial arts fighter.

The letter bars REK’s chief executive, who goes by Cix Liv, from hosting, promoting or advertising any boxing or martial arts match involving a human without a license. The commission points to California’s Business and Professions Code, sections 18870 and 18878. Holding an unsanctioned event is a misdemeanor there. The commission says unsanctioned fights put everyone’s health and money at risk.

Cix Liv posted the letter on X with the line “We made it, boys.” He then asked the chatbot Grok to explain why a robot fight should not count. Grok quoted section 18625, which defines a match as a full-contact fight between two or more persons. He says California will have to change the law.

He may be right one day. For now, a commission letter outranks a chatbot opinion, and the penalty is criminal, not a fine on paper.

What this means if you want a fighting robot at home

Nothing in that letter stops a robot from fighting another robot. It targets events where a human takes the hits. That distinction is the whole buying decision.

If you want machines to smash each other, look at robot-versus-robot formats, where the rules are settled and the repair bill is the only risk. If you want to stand in a cage yourself, the state of California has already told one company no. Expect your insurer, your venue and your hand surgeon to agree with it.

What to buy

  • Full-size humanoid robot of the EngineAI T800 type – This is the six-foot, steel-framed machine from the cage, sold to companies and labs rather than households; REK's modified units were claimed to kick with 850 pounds of force, and no public retail price appears in the reporting.
  • Smaller developer humanoid of the Unitree G1 type – The third robot in the same event and the easier one to house and move, but it is a research and demo platform, not a sparring partner.

Sources

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