REK

REK is a US humanoid robot fighting league founded by Cix Liv. True to its brand line — "Real Steel is now real" — REK stages shows in which humans remotely control humanoid robots fighting in a cage (the name is a play on the gaming slang "REKt", i.e. "wrecked"; it is not a formal acronym). REK's events were originally robot-vs-robot, which fell outside the jurisdiction of athletic commissions because there was no human competitor to protect. On September 18, 2026, in San Francisco, REK staged its first human-vs-machine bout — online creator Frankie LaPenna faced a remotely controlled EngineAI T800 humanoid in the cage. On September 23, 2026, the California State Athletic Commission, in a letter signed by executive director Andy Foster, ordered REK to cease organizing, promoting and advertising boxing and MMA matches involving humans without the commission's approval and the proper licenses, describing the event as an unsanctioned human-vs-humanoid-robot cage fight. The case exposed a regulatory gap at the intersection of physical AI and combat-sports rules written exclusively with humans in mind.