The UFC head honcho, Dana White, has a vision to revolutionize the sport of MMA with his newly announced partnership with Mark Zuckerberg. The Meta deal promises that their ‘Fan Technology’ will “transform the viewing experience.” But China may have already chartered the territory—the one where AI, robotics and machine learning meet combat sports. How have they achieved this? By hosting the world’s first-ever Robotic Kickboxing Tournament, smashing all technological expectations in combat sports. However, now that it’s happened, some fans are starting to worry: Is this the beginning of robotic world domination?
On May 25, Hangzhou, China, became the stage for something wild, the first of its kind—humanoid robots scrapping it out in the ring, swinging with their mechanically engineered limbs. The event was organized by China Media Group as part of their Mecha Fighting Series. These robotic warriors were built by a company called Unitree, and they’re part of the brand’s G1 flagship lineup—each one reportedly costing upwards of $16,000, according to the official website.
Their design wasn’t just thrown together either—they were actually built with fighting in mind. Each robot weighs around 35 kilos (about 77 pounds), so they’re very much lightweight. They stand at roughly 135 cm tall, which is just under 4 and a half feet. Inside, they’ve got a 9000mAh battery that gives them around two hours of action—solid cardio for a machine. Plus, they’re equipped with 3D Lidar for sensing their surroundings, and they even come with built-in speakers. So, technically, they could trash-talk if they wanted to.
The humanoids were seen throwing all kinds of punches and kicks inside the ring, going at each other like seasoned fighters. And, it turned into quite the spectacle for the audience. But that also raised a pretty interesting question: were they fighting on their own? Turns out, not yet. These bots weren’t fully autonomous—they were being controlled by humans.
As for the rules of the tournament, if a robot stayed down for at least 8 seconds, the opponent was declared the winner. Scoring was based on damage, too. Honestly, not too far off from what you’d see in the UFC or Glory Kickboxing. Although many people enjoyed this strange and new combat experience, it’s fair to say that some fans were a bit terrified. So, let’s take a look at their reactions.
Fans react to the world’s first Robot kickboxing tournament in China
A user found this competition outright spooky: “This is terrifying”. Another fan fears a legitimate threat and wrote, “This is how it all begins we watch robots fight each other then it will start fighting us.” As things have been progressing, it’s no surprise that we may see a human being fighting a robot sooner than expected. Another user doubled down and wrote, “They gonna be kicking our a– pretty soon.” Which would be very likely scenario since it won’t feel any pain like human fighters do.
Along with the fear element, some couldn’t believe this was real or content generated by AI; they wrote, “I swear this looks fake.” So, the comment quickly got a reply from another user, “The entire game was broadcast on China’s national television station CCTV10 for an hour and a half, and some people even said it was CGI. It has to be said that the Western information cocoon is truly amazing.” This is absolutely true, as it also got covered by many major media houses as well.
However, many also enjoyed two humanoids beating each other to a pulp as a new form of entertainment. One wrote, “Five years later, 10 years later. Robot boxing competition must be more exciting than human beings.” Who knows what the future brings us? Maybe we would get to see a Mecha Conor McGregor vs Khabib rematch down the line. Another fan appreciated how the fight went, “Wow, very agile getting up from a knockdown even on the ropes, impressive” That was genuinely a very impressive display of a never-giving-up attitude from the humanoid.
That being said, as AI and other technologies continue to grow at lightning speed, it’s getting harder to predict what the future holds for combat sports. The Robot Kickboxing Tournament was just the beginning—and there’s a good chance we’ll see many more as it starts to grab more attention. So, would you watch two robots in a full-on MMA showdown? Drop your thoughts below.
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