Josh Kuhne steps into the ring with ADESAN-X

Professional fighter Josh Kuhne has stepped into a boxing ring with ADESAN-X, one of the eight machines on the HFC I card, and the sparring session is now on Instagram for everyone to judge.

The 22-second reel, a joint post from Kuhne's account and HFC's @hfcmain, puts the two inside the ropes of a gym ring. Kuhne is shirtless, in shorts and gloves. ADESAN-X is in its dark purple shell, gloved up with its guard high. They trade in close, break off and reset while a small crowd films from ringside.

Kuhne, who fights as The Kamikaze, filed his scouting report in the caption: “Robot no have wrestling.. send 2-3 years Dagestan forget.” Dagestan, in Russia's North Caucasus, is famous for producing elite wrestlers. In other words, he reckons the machine has some grappling to learn.

Plenty of people wanted their say. By 31 October the reel had more than 163,000 likes and 2,300 comments.

To be clear about what this was: a sparring session, not an HFC bout. There was no result, and nothing goes on anyone's record.

Where ADESAN-X fights next

ADESAN-X is an EngineAI T800, billed by HFC as The Enigma. Its first official fight is against BANG BANG in the second quarterfinal of HFC I at Margaret Court Arena on Saturday 21 November. There will be no human across the cage that night.

Watch the reel on Instagram, then meet ADESAN-X.