Man vs robot: Influencer takes on 6ft humanoid in a terrifying cage fight – and it doesn’t end well for him

It might sound like the plot of a bonkers sci–fi film, but the world has now witnessed the very first human vs robot boxing match.

Influencer Frankie Lapenna stepped into the ring last Friday to take on a 6ft–tall humanoid robot with a worrying resemblance to the Terminator.

The event took place in San Francisco, hosted by the robot fighting company REK, which controlled the robot remotely.

While Mr Lapenna made a valiant effort, the fight didn’t end well for him.

As the influencer stepped into the ring wearing a helmet and protective pads, his visibly nervous coach said: ‘I’m scared for you, man.’

The fight started with Mr Lapenna actually landing a few solid punches that rock the lumbering robot’s head back and sent it stumbling.

But humanity’s hopes didn’t hold out for long as the robot soon countered with a devastating flurry of kicks that sent him flying across the cage.

However, although it might not look that way in the clip, REK says that Mr Lapenna actually won the fight and went on to tackle an even bigger bot later the same evening.

Cix Liv, CEO of REK, told the Daily Mail that hosting human vs robot fights was not something the company originally planned to get into.

The San Francisco–based firm’s main business is staging fights between remote–controlled robots, like a real–life version of the film Real Steel.

However, when Mr Lapenna reached out about two months ago saying he wanted to get into the ring himself, the opportunity seemed too good to turn down.

‘When he reached out to us, he said he didn’t want to wear any protective clothing,’ Mr Liv 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.’

In the fights, Mr Lapenna wore motorcycle gear to shield him from the worst of the blows and spiked boxing gloves to cushion his hands.

On social media, fans were terrified by the footage of a robot pummelling a human to the floor.

On Instagram, one commenter wrote: ‘Didn’t we have, like, 6 movies explaining why this is a bad idea?

‘This could’ve been a Black Mirror episode,’ chimed in another.

While one bluntly wrote: ‘Stop. Teaching. Them. To. Fight.’

Across the entire evening, the influencer actually took on three robots, starting with a tiny Unitree G1 and working his way up to face two of the hulking six–foot bots seen in the viral clip.

Those large robots are adapted versions of the ENGINEAI T800, which weighs up to 187lb (85kg) and costs $40,500 (£30,332).

Although they are not specifically built for fighting, their powerful limbs make an extremely powerful base for a robotic warrior.

Mr Liv says: ‘We have like 500 try–hard men emailing us saying they’re going to fight the robot, but they don’t realise that it’s like trying to punch a metal wall.’

While the average adult can kick with about 650lb (294kg) of force, REK says its large robots deliver 850lb (385kg) of force with their blows.

Although it can’t be seen in this teaser clip, Mr Liv says that the influencer actually ‘defeated’ the massive bot seen kicking him around the ring.

Mr Lapenna apparently managed to unbalance the bot and send it tumbling into the wall, where it seized up and ‘ripped its head off’.

Mr Liv says he doesn’t want to give away the results of the next fight, which will be released in a video tomorrow, but cautions that things didn’t go so well for the human fighter.

Despite that, the only real damage sustained by Mr Lapenna is a self–inflicted hand injury that came from ‘punching metal’, and the influencer was otherwise unhurt.

Mr Liv says that the company had never considered hosting human fights long term and added that this was always intended to be ‘a stunt’.

But with so many people already begging to get in the ring, he says: ‘We’ll have to do it again.’