Gruff is a Battlebot with a heavy front wedge, a lifting arm with two forks, and a flamethrower that can burn its opponent for 30 seconds each match. It debuted in 2019 with five fine fights in season 4, going 2-3. It knocked out Railgun Max (which barely failed to make this list) and completely dominated Marvin and Gemini in a rumble. Its three losses came to Copperhead (by a judges' decision), End Game (by a 2 minute 59 second knockout), and 2016 champion Tombstone (by a very controversial judges' decision, as seen above). So, it put up a very good season despite a sub-.500 record. The season was so good that its season 5 debut was featured as the main event, and it responded by knocking out the extremely tough drum spinner HyperShock. It lost a decision to Whiplash in its next match and it earned a matchup against Extinguisher, which was previously winless across two seasons. Gruff started out by dominating its opponent but eventually burned out its motors and lost by knockout. It had Extinguisher knocked out at the beginning of the match but wanted to impress the selection committee and kept the fight going, a decision that it would pay for dearly. Each of the 59 competing teams tried to make the top 32 to compete at the end of the season, and Gruff squeezed in as the 31st seed. In its fight against second seed Bloodsport, everybody expected it to get slaughtered, but it fought hard and lost by a split decision. Overall, Gruff's record stands at 3-6 (.333) with two knockouts. For its great fights against Railgun Max, Tombstone (especially), HyperShock, and Bloodsport, Gruff squeezes into my top 50.
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