You might be thinking, “What in the Black Mirror?” But, nope, this isn’t some dystopian fever dream. The world did, in fact, just witness what’s been called the first-ever MMA fight between a human and an actual humanoid robot. And if the odds didn’t seem unfairly stacked to begin with, said human wasn’t even an MMA fighter. In fact, he had no professional fighting experience at all.
In a detail that makes the whole thing that much more bizarre, the human in question was influencer and content creator Frankie Lapenna. You might recognize him by his distinctive mustache—or another equally exaggerated but entirely fake, erm, asset. If you’ve spent any time on TikTok or YouTube, there’s a good chance you’ve come across some of his work, where he’s built a following with visual gags and increasingly unhinged stunts reminiscent of the ones old Johnny Knoxville and Steve-O used to pull.
So, naturally, taking on a six-foot humanoid robot in a cage fight was the next logical challenge…
Sci-fi has long warned us about machines turning against us—now, humans are stepping into the ring with them
An American influencer just went head-to-head with a six-foot, Terminator-like robot in an MMA cage
“For the first time in history, a human faces off against a six-foot-tall robot,” an announcer says at the start of the now-viral footage of the fight. We see Lapenna standing in the cage, surrounded by onlookers as his formidable opponent approaches: REK Robotics’ ‘Rekbot,’ a humanoid machine bearing a striking resemblance to the T-800 from The Terminator.
With its towering frame, broad metallic shoulders, glowing red eyes, and menacing, skull-like face, the robot is certainly an intimidating sight. “Dude, I’m scared for you, man,” a man standing behind Lapenna says.
The event took place on September 18 in San Francisco and was hosted by robot-fighting company REK. When the bout got underway, Lapenna landed several solid punches that briefly threw the robot off balance. But his early advantage didn’t last long. The machine soon responded with a barrage of powerful kicks, sending Lapenna flying.
The clip ends with Lapenna down on the canvas, leaving viewers with the impression that he’d lost the battle of “man vs. machine.” But REK later said the influencer actually prevailed, claiming he eventually managed to unbalance the humanoid and send it crashing into a wall.
And this wasn’t even Lapenna’s only robot encounter that night. According to the Daily Mail, he faced three of them in total, starting with a smaller Unitree G1 before taking on two of the larger six-foot robots.
Lapenna didn’t seem particularly shaken by the experience, telling the Daily Mail: “This was nothing out of the ordinary for me, it was just another regular work week for me. This robot fight doesn’t even rank in the top 5 most dangerous things I’ve done.”
But he did later admit to the outlet that “You really cannot explain how absurd and terrifying this robot truly is, until you see it in person. The ground literally shakes when it walks.”
Lapenna’s opponent weighed up to 187 pounds—and could kick with 850 pounds of force
Despite the Terminator comparisons, the Rekbot wasn’t an autonomous machine deciding how to attack its opponent. As John Tan, writing for inkl, explains, “A human operator controlled the robot remotely, with virtual-reality equipment used to direct its movements. AI-assisted systems helped with functions including balance and stability.”
As the Daily Mail reported, the robot itself was an adapted version of EngineAI’s T800 humanoid, which stands around 1.73 meters (5 feet 8 inches) tall and weighs between 75 and 85 kilograms (165–187 pounds), depending on the version. REK says its larger robots can deliver around 850 pounds of force with their kicks, compared with roughly 650 pounds for an average adult.
REK normally stages fights between remotely controlled robots, but Lapenna reportedly approached the company about two months before the event because he wanted to get into the ring himself. The company required him to wear protective motorcycle gear and specialized gloves for the bout.
“When he reached out to us, he said he didn’t want to wear any protective clothing,” Cix Liv, chief executive of REK, told the Daily Mail. “But we told him that he had to, and when he saw what the robot could do, he actually said that he needed more.”
The protective gear may help explain how Lapenna escaped the night’s encounters relatively unscathed, although he did sustain an injury to his hand—hardly surprising considering he was quite literally “punching metal.”
But he did later admit to the Daily Mail that “Getting hit by the robot did NOT feel good,” adding, “It’s like getting hit by a baseball bat, but even worse because the robot’s limbs are way more dense and heavy than a baseball bat.”
The strange showdown raises a much bigger question about where this technology is headed
It’s perhaps unsurprising that footage of a human being launched across a cage by a six-foot humanoid robot prompted some pretty nervous reactions online, with commenters writing things like “Didn’t we have, like, 6 movies explaining why this is a bad idea?”
REK itself seemed happy to play into those fears, captioning the clip “World’s first human vs 6ft Terminator robot fight. Is the end near? Or do we still stand a chance?”
Of course, there was no robot uprising here: the machine was being controlled by a human operator. But the spectacle has nevertheless raised more serious questions about what increasingly capable robots could mean for the future.
In an NBC News clip, reporter Steven Romo says the bout raises “new questions about the future of fighting on the battlefield,” noting that “With technology moving fast and drones already being used in war, this bout could offer a glimpse into the future of fighting machines.”
Robotics associate professor Naomi Fitter of Oregon State University, who appears in the clip, points to a different concern: The bigger question may not be whether the technology is capable of doing this, but whether the ethical, legal, and policy guardrails are strong enough to govern how it’s used. “It’s not as much a capability limitation as like an ethical, policy, legal consideration when it comes to using robots in a weaponized way,” she says.
REK, meanwhile, has already hinted that this may not be the last time humans enter the cage with its robots. The company has reportedly received interest from people wanting to take them on, with Liv telling the Daily Mail: “We’ll have to do it again.”
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