Fight Night is the name given to the pre-tournament episode format which has been a key part of televised BattleBots seasons since World Championship III.
As BattleBots moved from ABC to Discovery, the show was granted more hours by its new network. A straight knockout tournament was replaced by a format which allowed for every episode to consistently feature fights from elite tier opponents, with no official elimination taking place until every robot has fought a set number of times. The format is similar to the fight cards seen in UFC and similar sporting events such as boxing and professional wrestling.
At the end of each Fight Night card was a Main Event, which would typically be the fight most hyped up throughout the duration of the episode. This could be a rematch, a battle between two undefeated teams, or simply a battle between two elite robots.
World Championship III[]
The Fight Night episodes originally only had four undercard fights preceding a Main Event, with a sixth bonus battle sometimes airing on the Science Channel and later on Discovery's encore episode. Each robot had four fights to stake their claim for a place in the main tournament, which consisted of a Top 16.
One Top 16 slot was granted to the winner of the Desperado Tournament, a single episode which saw eight robots compete in a knockout tournament. The overall winner was granted entry to the Top 16, which in 2018 was Donald Hutson and Lock-Jaw who was 1-2 in the regular season up to that point.
Another went to the winner of a play in rumble between three similarly-designed robots in End Game, Brutus and WAR Hawk. Rob Farrow's WAR Hawk declared the winner and earned a guaranteed spot.
The sixteenth and lowest seed in the tournament was given to the winner of the Last Chance Rumble, a six-way battle held at the end of Fight Night between participants willing to enter the BattleBox with the last robot standing advancing. In one of the most controversial battles in the show's history, winless reigning runner-up Bombshell, who went 0-4 in its Fight Night battles, took the win and made the Championship tournament in spite of its disastrous record.
World Championship IV[]
For World Championship IV, the Fight Night episodes consisted of six undercard fights preceding a Main Event, with a eighth again often airing as a Science Channel bonus battle.
A second Desperado Tournament was held in 2019 to break up the Fight Night episodes, and was this time won by Team Uai!rrior and Black Dragon. Ironically, Black Dragon immediately met and lost to the previous season's Desperado Tournament winner, Lock-Jaw, in the Top 16.
World Championship V[]
For World Championship V, the field of robots had been expanded yet again. As such, each competitor only received a total of three Fight Night battles, with some robots such as Rampage, Black Widow, Aegis and Slap Box not even fulfilling that quota. Science Channel bonus battles were no more, with a total of six undercard matches leading up to a Main Event every episode.
With the absence of Rumbles in 2020 and beyond, all competitive Fight Night battles were now 1v1s.
There was no Desperado Tournament for World Championship V, or indeed any other play-in battles, with a Top 32 decided by Fight Night battles alone.
World Championship VI[]
For World Championship VI, the field of 60 robots typically fought up to three times during Fight Night to stake a claim to be selected for the tournament, but this was not the case for all teams. Seasoned veterans which went 2-0 in their first two fights, notably Whiplash, HyperShock and eventual Giant Nut winners Tantrum, did not receive a third fight due to time constraints with selection essentially guaranteed. Rookie teams with 2-0 records such as Glitch and Blip were granted a third fight regardless. This did not go down well with several teams, who wanted the third fight to trial different configurations and for additional screen time for their numerous sponsors.
A number of fights went untelevised again this season, but were billed on each Fight Night card as a YouTube Exclusive. These were first revealed to Facebook Supporters before being shared to the BattleBots YouTube channel publicly after the televised episode aired.
A Top 32 was again selected, though the final two places were decided by play in matches between four robots on the cusp of being granted automatic selection. Hydra, who went 1-2 in Fight Night, defeated a 2-1 Defender to secure the No.31 seed, whereas two fellow 1-2 robots faced off in Malice and Skorpios, with the latter taking the No.32 seed.
World Championship VII[]
For World Championship VII, the Fight Night rounds spanned a total of fifteen episodes, over three-quarters of the total episode count for the season. For the first time since 2019, each fully accepted robot was granted four Fight Night rounds, with alternates which were not promoted to the main field granted up to two.
This season's Fight Night was unlike any other, however, as each team were informed of their entire four robot schedule ahead of time, meaning teams could prepare well in advance. In line with this, every robot's schedule was revealed publicly to fans before the season premiere.
Future opponents were often referenced within the context of wins and losses during episodes, typically accompanied by a graphic previewing upcoming fights ahead of the Top 32.