Original subtitles

- Throughout history,

the blade and one's ability to wield it

has been the difference between life and death.

Tonight, America's top bladesmiths, martial artists,

and knife experts bring their weapons

to the toughest challenge...

- Come on, let's do this! - They'll ever face.

- It's a grueling gauntlet

designed to put their blade-wielding skills...

Whoa! To the ultimate test.

Broke the knife in half!

The top two competitors move on to Dead Run,

the final showdown,

for a chance at a $20,000 grand prize.

Total carnage!

Who can do the most damage in the fastest time?

Whose blade and dreams will shatter?

And who will earn the title of "Knife or Death" champion?

- I've absolutely never done anything like this in my life,

so this is gonna be a complete unique test

of my technique and my movement.

- My typical demeanor is calm, collected,

but faced with the odds,

I'll have to draw upon a berserker rage.

You throw yourself into battle.

- Blade wielders, welcome to the most intense

and badass knife competition ever created.

The first course is Knife Fight,

the true test of speed and power.

The first obstacle you'll face: Trail Blazer.

You must cut through six wooden dowels,

each releasing a lit torch.

When the torches fall,

it's time to move on to the next obstacle:

Stick and Move.

You must stab, slice,

and cut through three separate containers

to release enough contents so that

the attached counterweights reach the ground

before the containers rise too high to hit.

Next up is Ice Pick.

You must chop into a 3-foot block of ice,

puncture the plastic pipe, and release the red liquid.

Then you move on to Lifeline.

You must fully slice through three hanging objects

with one swing each.

Fail to slice through the thickest part,

your run time ends,

and you're not allowed to go on

any further in the course.

If you make it this far, your last obstacle

is Curtain Call,

where you must cut completely through the wall of meat

and the sheet of metal.

- Knife Fight is definitely taking competition

for knife-cutting to another level.

It's gonna be badass.

- The two that make it the farthest the fastest

will move on to our second,

even more grueling course challenge: Dead Run.

The winner earns a cash prize

and the chance to compete in the season finale

for the title of "Knife or Death" grand champion

and a $20,000 cash prize.

I'm honored to introduce to you U. S. Army veteran

and Special Forces Green Beret Tu Lam.

- We stationed our very own blade expert

and "Forged in Fire" champion Travis Wuertz

before the start of this run.

If he finds any problems with your blade,

he can disqualify you from this competition.

- We'll see you on the course.

- I am a little concerned with my performance,

just due to the nerves.

I'm feeling anxious. I'm ready to--ready to go.

- My name is Ben Noffsinger, and I live in North Carolina,

where I'm a bladesmith. I started blacksmithing,

and from there I progressed to bladesmithing,

producing high-quality kitchen knives.

I'm a former chef.

That's where I learned to use blades

and creating my own.

- What you got there? - I brought a Norse seax

because of the utilitarian nature of it.

Figured I would go with the most functional blade

that I could think of.

- I like the natural wood grip

and the tang going all the way through the pommel

peened over in a traditional construction,

but I'm still gonna do a couple chops

just to make sure it's safe.

It has nice weight and balance.

You can generate a lot of power, even in an arc.

Congratulations.

- Thank you. - Your blade makes the cut.

- I'm not a perfectionist, but I am a completionist,

and I hope that serves me well.

- Here comes Ben, the former chef,

holding a big blade,

but Ben is a big man.

It looks like they were made for each other.

- Ben's coming in with a Viking seax

traditionally used by Viking warriors.

- The tension mounts as big, bad Ben

steps up to Trail Blazer.

Right through dowel number one,

right through dowel number two.

Different plan of attack we see here.

Very methodical.

Boy, he destroyed Trail Blazer!

Now, Stick and Move. Here we go.

- Wow. - Total destruction!

Weight's down.

That big man is wielding that monster

like it's an extension of his arm.

Total carnage!

- He's utilizing his whole body and structure behind him.

- Look at that.

Record time by Ben!

Man, did he go through those obstacles like it was nothing.

Next up: Ice Pick.

There he goes.

- I love the angles of attack. - Whoa!

What a performance! He decapitates the ice block!

- That goes to show you, it's all about leverage

and angles of attack and power.

- And that man possesses some power.

- Now, I'd have to say, Bill, I am concerned about Lifeline.

Although he has power, that's a heavy blade.

It's going to push the object versus cut

if he doesn't come down at the right angles.

- Okay. If you were Ben, how would you attack Lifeline?

- Well, he needs to hit it at a downward angle.

- Here he goes.

One chop, backstroke. Jeez!

- The fish is one of the hardest items to cut.

- And again, another one goes down to Lifeline.

- That goes to show you how hard this competition is.

He has power, but this is about technique.

He needs to maximize the weight of that blade.

The only way to do it is come down at an angle, Bill.

- And I'll tell you what, that's a shame,

'cause he had a record time going.

- There has never been such a close cut on a fish.

Nothing but skin.

- My stroke was short.

- Phenomenal performance, but it remains to be seen

if you made it far enough fast enough.

- My name's Brian Brown. I live in Atlanta, Georgia.

I've been doing martial arts for over 30 years now.

Been doing Filipino martial arts now for 20 years.

I'm feeling confident. I'm feeling strong.

I am ready to rock and roll.

- What'd you bring today?

- So I got this blade from a student that trained for me.

He traveled to the Philippines, and he brought me this back.

A ginunting is a weapon that's used

in Filipino fighting styles.

It can really save your ass on the street.

- How long have you had this knife?

- Couple years, actually.

- There's some things in the construction that worry me

for the competition that you're going to enter,

chopping hard objects

and not just going through motions or flesh.

I can't tell if it's carbon steel.

Does this blade rust up on you?

- Not too much. - Okay.

Now I'll do a little hardness check.

- Sure.

- I don't like the construction of this knife.

The steel's not hard.

I can whittle it with my pocket knife.

And there's some glue on this guard.

Did you put that there? - I did.

- Why did you put it there?

- Just to kind of make sure

it stays a little bit more secure,

'cause I don't know who made...

- Okay. - The blade.

- Do you mind if I scrape some of this epoxy

so I can actually take a look

at the tang going into the blade?

- Go at it.

- So when I have blades that come from,

you know, other countries,

I often worry if they're tourist blades...

- Mm-hmm. - Or good blades.

So...

now, this is a hidden tang construction.

Thing about a hidden tang is, you like to know the origins

before putting a knife through hell,

so it looks like this guard was actually cast around the blade,

because I'm seeing signs of cast material there.

What that worries me

is that the molten temperature of this brass

exceeds any heat-treating temperature

and makes it hard to have a good metallurgy

right at the guard.

What I don't want is to see a blade break off at the handle

and go flying across the competition.

See, I have legitimate safety concerns here.

Don't get me wrong, I like seeing chaos,

but I don't want to see somebody get hurt.

You've seen the course, right?

- Yeah, I'm concerned. - You're concerned too?

- Mm-hmm.

- Let me go ahead and take a few chops

on this tatami mat.

That test does not concern me. - Mm-hmm.

- But I hope to gauge a little bit of an idea

of the construction for the basic test.

- Go for it.

So it's my job to assess the blades

to make sure they're safe.

- Sure.

- With the mystery origin,

the shoddy construction,

not knowing where it comes from,

not knowing the steels, not seeing much of the tang,

the glue job being to kind of cover up gaps,

there's things all over this knife

that concern me on the construction.

- Sure.

- After a thorough inspection of this blade...

I cannot allow you to compete with this knife.

I'm sorry.

Your knife does not make the cut.

- Okay.

Didn't want to put myself

or anyone else in the area at risk,

and I get that, but it sucks,

'cause I wanted to compete, but wasn't the case.

It was a safety issue,

and the blade didn't make the cut.

- My name is Da'Mon Stith, I'm from Austin, Texas,

and I'm a martial arts instructor.

African martial arts is what I'm currently focusing on now.

The weapon I'll be using is the Egyptian khopesh.

In ancient Egyptian, the term means "goat leg,"

and that's because it looks kind of like the hind leg

of a goat or an ox, and I'm hoping

that I'll get to show the strength of this blade.

- So what have you brought today?

- This weapon was introduced

during the New Kingdom in ancient Egypt.

It combines the cutting potential of the epsilon ax.

Also, the point is in line with the wrist,

so it should be good at piercing as well.

- Now, where did you get this blade?

- I had a good friend of mine forge it.

- I like the alignment of the grip,

the things that you mentioned,

the dynamics of the cutting blade.

I'm gonna strap into it and try it out.

- Okay.

- Congratulations. Your blade makes the cut.

- I'm here to demonstrate the power

of African martial arts.

- Da'Mon Stith, 30-plus years

of African martial arts training.

- That's all about quick in,

quick strikes, close-quarters combat.

- Okay, we have never seen a blade like this

in this competition yet.

- This thing is made for combat.

The khopesh blade was literally designed

to take a head clean off.

- Nice.

- I love it. Look at him, getting down.

The culture is showing through.

- Beautiful display of respect from Da'Mon

as he steps up to Trail Blazer.

This is going to be epic.

Right through the first,

right through the second,

not a problem at all.

- He's going into battle! - Already through Trail Blazer.

Da'Mon and the blade succeed.

If those dowels were necks,

there would be six decapitated heads right now.

Stick and Move.

Da'Mon is off.

- He needs to hit it low. He needs to hit it low.

- Okay, here's the problem here.

- He's coming in at a different angle.

- Oh, but he's going back.

But he's going back.

Beautiful. Beautiful move.

The first weight hits the ground.

- See how he's attacking.

Angle one, angle two, and he keeps on moving.

- Speed, power, efficiency.

- It's about efficiency of moving.

- Across the line without the second weight

hitting the ground.

Incurred one penalty there.

He steps up to Ice Pick.

Well, that he's making quick work.

- Making short work of that.

- Wow. Beautiful job.

- That is a scary blade.

- Here he goes. Lifeline.

- This is a fast blade. It's made to cut through flesh.

Let's just see if he has the technique to do it.

- Beautiful cut. Here we go.

The sudden death obstacle

that has taken so many competitors down.

If you want to get through that fish,

you need to swing as if your life depended on it.

And again,

the fish takes down a competitor.

Look at the disappointment in his eyes.

Where'd he go wrong? - The follow-through was great.

I just didn't think he had enough blade to cut through it.

- Sword fighting combat

is measured in fractions of an inch.

I missed the mark on the fish. I cut through the bone,

but I just didn't have enough depth to finish the cut.

We don't always get to have our hand raised at the end,

but we do get to go back and train harder,

be better, and come back and fight again.

- I'm Dave Frank, and I'm from Montrose, Colorado,

and I'm a retired chef.

Chefs have had knives in their hands

for thousands of years,

and we train with them far more than most martial artists do.

The blade I'll be competing with is a German messer.

I'm of German heritage,

and I felt it was critical to acknowledge

that part of my heritage as well.

My chef knives are so sharp, you can shave with them.

- What have you brought today?

- It's a 15th-century representation

of a peasant's knife.

In the 15th century, it was illegal

for peasants to carry swords,

so they got around it by making a long knife.

In German, "messer" means knife.

This sword actually is cold steel manufactured,

although I have modified it

with the etching on the blade. - Okay.

- And that is a 15th-century German scrollwork

that I've done on that blade.

- I'm just gonna take a few chops right now

and assess the wieldability

and overall safety of the piece.

- You bet.

- Congratulations.

Your knife makes the cut. - Thank you.

I have a lot of confidence, both in my own abilities

and in my blade.

I am so excited, because this is one of those

once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.

- Dave's a chef, but he's told us

he's never been in a cutting competition before.

This is a far departure from what he uses in the kitchen.

- Well, Dave's coming in with the messer sword

with 22 inches.

It's a heavy blade,

so I see him having a hard time wielding it.

- Here goes Dave, Trail Blazer.

First one. Destroys the second one.

Little bit of an issue with the third.

Right through the fourth.

On to the fifth.

Destroys it.

Final dowel broken. Dave crosses the line.

Next up, Stick and Move.

Dave's on the move. First container.

Nice. Beautiful.

Destroyed it. One shot.

The second. But did he move too fast?

We got to wait for the counterweight

to come down, remember.

- He should have knocked down that target

prior to moving on to the next objective.

- Making quick work of the box. Beautiful.

Weights down across the line, but as you see,

he did not take time on the second bucket.

- Ice Pick may hurt this sword.

It may roll the metal.

- Dave's off on Ice Pick.

- I like how he's coming down at an angle.

He's chipping away at the same area.

- Beautiful. Complete.

That ice was toast.

- 22 inches of blade,

and Dave definitely knows how to use it.

- Steps up to Lifeline,

which has taken a number of competitors down so far.

Let's see if he has the patience to get it done.

- This thing is dangling on a rope line,

so he needs to come down fast with speed at an angle.

- Beautiful. Right through the chicken.

For the third time in a row,

the fish takes down another competitor.

I'm thinking he rushed through it.

- The issue that I've seen here with Dave is,

he had a good stance, good position,

but he did not follow through with that strike.

- The professional chef was taken down by a fish.

What irony is that?

- This blade actually developed a bend.

- I think that happened on the ice.

My first blow, I made a little bit too shallow of an angle,

and when I did that, I felt the blade roll.

That flustered me a little bit,

and so when I got to the fish,

I didn't attack it from the spine,

and that was my downfall.

- We'll see you in a little bit

if your time is good enough

to put you outside in Dead Run.

- Thank you.

- My name is James Clifton, I'm 35 years old,

and I'm from Gallatin, Tennessee,

and I'm the 2017 BladeSports world champion.

I was in a pretty gnarly motorcycle accident,

messed my throat up.

Because of my injury, I usually have

about 60 seconds of full-bore energy and breath.

After that, I'll get a little wheezy,

so I'm just gonna have to finish this thing

in under a minute.

- What you got there? - That's my knife.

- "That's my knife."

That's kind of how I'd phrase that too.

All right, now, that's a competition chopper

if I ever seen one.

- This is a blade that I made for knife competitions,

and I firmly believe

I have the sharpest knife in the game.

- All right, what's the blade steel?

- It's CPM Rex T15.

- And you having a BladeSports knife

that meets the requirements,

I have no safety concerns with it,

and I just get to play.

- Sounds good.

- That's what I thought.

Congratulations. Your knife makes the cut.

- Thank you, sir.

- James Clifton.

This guy is arguably the best BladeSport competitor

in the world.

- But James did sustain an injury that may hinder him.

- His endurance is in question.

- Here we go!

- I love how he's going wide.

You can definitely see the competition.

- And look at the power he brings to it.

Right across the line. Dowels destroyed.

- That is almost flawless.

- Talk about full-body movement.

James was bringing the power from the floor

all the way to his hips into that blade.

Awesome. Here he goes.

- It's all about cutting out the bottom.

- Now what is James doing here? He's moving on.

He's not through the bucket yet.

- Well, what we need to understand here

is that's a double-insulated bucket,

and I don't agree with him moving on

without making sure the content's released.

- Will he look back and take his time?

The second weight hits the ground.

James crossed the line without that first counterweight

hitting the ground.

In his haste, incurred one penalty there.

- James' breathing is already labored.

Let's see how it comes into effect with Ice Pick.

Drives right through.

Beautiful job by James on Ice Pick.

- You can see where his experience here

is shining through.

- Understanding that it has taken down

a number of competitors prior,

how is he gonna attack Lifeline?

- He only has 10 ioh, my God! t obstacl-

The blade sliced right through it.

Beautiful job!

On to the tube. No issues.

James is right through. That was impressive.

- Tell you what, if James is winded, I don't see it.

- The way that he distributes the weight,

he knows that blade.

This is a competition chopping expert.

- James steps up to Curtain Call.

Final obstacle.

- Whoa. - One swipe. Beautiful.

Here he goes to the sheet metal.

- There is no stopping. - One shot, two, three,

four, five, six,

and he's through.

That's domination.

- Wow. - He's done.

Completed Knife Fight. Beautiful performance.

Moving between each little course,

I got a little winded before them,

but I did have enough time to catch my breath.

- Ha!

My name is Sara Laterza.

I'm 30 years old, and I'm from Adairsville, Georgia.

I have been doing martial arts for almost 20 years.

I'm a competition veteran. I know how to handle pressure.

- So what do we have here?

- The blade I'm using today is a Japanese katana

with a 27-inch cutting edge.

- So this came from online? - Yes.

- Do you have any other information on this sword?

- I don't. - Okay.

Now, the Japanese design, that hamon or temper line

is where the hard steel stops and the soft steel begins.

Now, they did that essentially because they're cutting flesh

and not planning on encountering hard objects

like the blocks of ice or the wood crates.

We've already seen one katana bend pretty severely,

but the edge held up.

The nice thing about the Japanese swords

and the curve is, they're very easy to wield.

They have good indexing, and they do well.

It's definitely not as sharp as it could be.

However, I don't see any major safety concerns.

Ultimately, it's not about what I can do with it.

It's about what you can do with it.

Congratulations. Your knife makes the cut.

- Thank you. - Good luck.

- Thank you, sir.

Normally, my sword work is in sport martial arts,

so I feel really pumped about this experience today.

I am excited. I'm so ready to go.

Let's get this started.

- Mother of three, 16-year martial arts veteran.

- Sara is coming in with a traditional katana.

It was designed for combat.

The samurais believed in mind, body, and spirit.

- Let's see her mind, body, and spirit come together

with that blade and take on Trail Blazer.

Sara's off.

Whoa! - Power, overhead strike.

- Destruction! - Look at her footing.

Look at her movements. - Look at that.

- Full-body movement.

Follow-through, speed, accuracy.

Trail Blazer has been dominated by Sara.

Sara's on Stick and Move.

Oh, plan of attack. - Got to hit at an angle.

She's hitting it dead on. - Dead on.

- She has to hit down at an angle.

- Oh, there she's going, changing her technique.

She tried to--oh, beautiful!

Total destruction.

The second bucket is made out of a different material.

Okay, there has to be a different plan of attack here.

- Lot of power.

- Lot of power in those movements,

and it could be wearing on her.

- There's no question.

Now it's kind of out of reach.

It's gonna be an issue.

I'll tell you what, that blade is taking a beating.

Stick and Move-- it's been the downfall

of a number of competitors.

Sara put in a lot of work,

and unfortunately, she got two penalties for her time.

Let's take into consideration

how dull she made that blade on the Stick and Move.

Is that gonna become a factor in Ice Pick?

- Oh, absolutely.

See the blade bending.

- Yeah, but you can also see her

making quick work of that ice block right there.

Nice move by Sara.

She moves on to Lifeline,

which has taken down a number of competitors prior.

- She's definitely gonna have the penetration she needs.

Wow, you can definitely see that blade bending.

That's definitely gonna play in Lifeline.

- Here she goes.

Beautiful cut. Right through the chicken.

Can she become only the second competitor today

to get past that fish?

- And again, the fish takes down another competitor.

- Bill, she attacked it straight on.

It pushed the fish.

- Do you think the edge on the blade or the lack thereof

was part of her downfall with the fish?

- Oh, absolutely.

This course is made to destroy the blade,

and that could have been a disqualifier,

her trying to get through that fish.

- I used a custom sword.

I didn't know a lot about it, and it was a gamble.

This is the first time I've used this blade

in a competition, and I wish I had gone all the way,

but I feel like I did the best I could do.

- My name is Michael Allenson,

and I'm a bladesmith professionally.

I love all things medieval: armor, swords.

I'm wearing a kilt and ghillie suit

as I would at the Ren fair smithy booth,

because it's most fitting

for the type of sword I brought

and what I'm gonna be doing.

- So what have you got there?

- I have a long sword in the style

of the Oakeshott circa early 15th century.

The sword has some Scottish intentions to it,

and so does the outfit.

- Now, did you make this yourself?

- I did. - Awesome.

- Careful. The edge is a little sharp.

- Oh, yeah. What was your heat-treating process?

- Salt pot up to critical into Parks 50,

and then it was tempered in a secondary salt pot

at 450 for an hour.

- It's nice to see someone use a salt pot

in heat-treating a sword

that they're gonna go and perform with.

- You need it to be solid through there.

- Yes. Thank you.

I'm gonna take a few safety cuts.

- Good luck. - All right.

The grip's nice.

Your sword definitely makes the cut.

- Thank you very much.

I'm out here competing in honor of my father.

When I was younger, I handed him one of the first blades

I bought to do competition cutting on my own,

and I told him, "When I'm a man,

you give this back to me."

He passed before that was able to happen,

so this is my way to honor him.

- Michael Allenson steps up to Trail Blazer.

What we're seeing here is a double-edged sword--

heavy weight, great for power, but you sacrifice speed.

- The Oakeshott sword was used to cut through heavy armor,

so that's a heavy sword.

That swing--

it's gonna be a little bit hard to recover from.

- Let's see how it holds up.

And he's off, right through the first dowel.

Double-handed smash.

Uh-oh, little bit of a problem on that one.

Final dowel cut, through the finish line.

As expected, with that blade, took him a little bit of time,

but as he steps up to Stick and Move,

this is where we want to see this big blade in action.

Oh, different plan of attack.

Look at the power.

He's moving on too soon.

He's gonna incur a penalty

unless he goes back to finish the first bucket.

Moving on before the obstacle was totally taken care of.

We have one weight down.

Michael's attacking the box.

- And he's just destroying that box!

- He is destroying it. - He has power.

And with the length of that sword,

it's gonna give him that height that he needs.

- Okay.

His haste in completing the box,

he went across the line

before the first counterweight hit the ground.

Michael steps up to Ice Pick.

Michael is off.

One, two, three, four...

five chops.

Done!

Very impressive.

That thing isn't oozing. It's gushing.

Okay, now, as he steps up to Lifeline,

the obstacle that's taken down

so many of our competitors so far,

he needs to take his time.

This is a sudden death obstacle.

Goes right through it,

but almost gets taken out by it.

Right through the fish!

Right through the tube.

On to Curtain Call.

Sliced right through the pork.

Stepping up to the sheet metal.

One more and he's done. - Wow.

- And right through the sheet metal.

He completes Curtain Call,

therefore completing Knife Fight.

Michael with an impressive run.

The double edges on there,

I think that was a huge advantage for him.

- Michael definitely knows how to use his weight.

He has power.

And using double hands... - Yep.

- He can double up on the cutting power

behind this thing.

- I'm only imagining the sense of pride,

having made that sword,

and what better opportunity to test it?

- Through the roof.

I came into this with concern

that maybe I wasn't bringing the right blade for this.

Any concern I had has now been put to bed.

I made the right choice.

I'm extremely proud of this sword

and my performance with it.

- James. - Sir.

- Michael. - Sir.

- You were the only two competitors

to complete the Knife Fight course.

Congratulations.

- Thank you. - Thank you, sir.

- You will now move outside.

You will take on the elements,

and you will also take on Dead Run.

We'll see you outside, gentlemen.

Dead Run inviting its first competitor,

James Clifton,

the 2017 BladeSport world champion.

This guy is the real deal.

James has a couple of advantages.

Most glaring:

his competition BladeSport résumé.

I mean, this guy's as good as they get,

and he comes outside

to go one-on-one with Michael Allenson.

This is Dead Run.

While Knife Fight was the ultimate test of blades,

Dead Run is the ultimate test of speed, timing,

accuracy, and precision.

- I believe Dead Run will be the hardest test

that any of my blades have ever been put through so far.

- Steak Knife:

from the platform, cut each steak in half.

A solid slice will keep the swing moving.

Extinguisher:

cut the rope, release the bottle.

Cut the bottle on the downswing

to extinguish the flame.

Weight Cut:

cut the necessary 40 pounds each

from the meat and the ice block to advance.

Free Fall: you cut each watermelon as it drops.

Only exposed red fruit counts.

Strike Zone:

behind that curtain is a variety of objects

that you must attack.

Cut the rope to bring down the curtain,

and the objects are revealed.

Every object must be cut in half.

Dead Run ends with Fire Storm,

where you must cut two ropes to release the platform,

fight exhaustion to ascend the stairs,

and the clock stops only if you can make one final chop

through a stack of hard sugarcane.

- I'm feeling a lot of excitement.

Normally I'm nervous before a cut,

but I'm not so nervous today.

I'm a BladeSports world champion.

I'm ready to rock it.

Right through easily. Nice cut.

- Yeah, he's coming down at an angle.

- Oh! There, a little slip-up.

He's losing a lot of time that he cannot lose.

- Okay. On to Extinguisher.

Let's see how clean James can run through it.

Completely different technique here,

and that technique is not gonna work.

- Mental error.

- I don't think the blade is long enough

to put it where he needs to to put out that candle.

That reverse hand cut is not working for him.

He needs to try a new strategy.

- Flame is out.

Three penalties. - That's gonna hurt him.

- Moves on to Weight Cut.

Cut the necessary 40 pounds each

from the meat and the ice block to advance.

- He's cutting way too low, Bill.

- Way too low.

He's losing a lot of time there.

Lot of time.

- He spent a lot of time there.

And look how low he started there.

Whoa! Right through it.

40 pounds instantly.

On to Free Fall.

- You can tell he's winded. - He's definitely winded.

He missed that one.

- Very interesting.

- I don't know if I agree with that reverse cut.

That angle is an awkward angle.

- Unfortunately, the most experienced competitor

is getting eaten alive by Dead Run.

Finally, James is on the board.

Missed again. His timing is completely off.

Only one chance left.

Got it.

Okay, he's on to Strike Zone.

The clock's ticking.

Does James have the stamina left?

- One slice through the rope.

Right through the fish.

Wasting a lot of valuable time.

- Just really bad strategy.

- Plus you have to wonder if he's gonna be too exhausted.

- No, I am worried about his injury.

- It took James way too many strikes.

Goes to the meat. Right in half.

He spent a lot of time there.

Moves on. Fire Storm.

He's exhausted,

but he's got to cut the stairs free.

Ascend the stairs, cut the sugar cane,

time will be revealed.

His strained breathing from his injury has slowed him down,

but it doesn't have to be the fastest time,

just faster than Michael's.

- And the time is...

5 minutes, 17 seconds.

- As a BladeSports world champion,

I definitely expected to do a little better.

I was definitely at a disadvantage

with the short knife.

- It was a very interesting run.

He did a lot of things technique-wise

that I just don't know what he was thinking.

James racked up 11 penalties.

- Well, this is a world competition chopper,

and he's having a hard time,

so you can tell that this run

is different from anything you see out there.

- The heavyweight battle continues.

Competitor number two, Michael Allenson,

steps up to the ring of fire to take on Dead Run.

- I'm very excited,

but I'm a little shaky in the arms

and the legs right now.

- He needs to beat 5:17.

Michael is off.

Hegoes to Steak Knife.

- Interested to see how this goes.

- Wow. - Oh, my.

- Beautiful! - Beautiful angles.

- Right through, beautiful angles, follow-through.

I have yet to see anybody tackle Steak Knife

with this precision.

Absolutely flawless.

- That long sword gave him the reach that he needed.

- Very impressive.

As he steps up to Extinguisher...

- It's all about timing and accuracy.

- Boom! First one.

Second one.

Precise hit. - Nice. Nice.

- Flame is out on the second one.

- He definitely found his kill zone.

- Up to the third.

Third one's out.

Oh, someone's swinging like a baseball bat,

but he missed the flame.

He moves on to Weight Cut.

- Wow, look at that power, Bill.

- That was beautiful.

Oh, beautiful.

That thing is sharp.

Moving on, heading to Free Fall.

This is where he may have an issue.

Upswing. - Oh, nice.

- Beautiful!

- Oh, he has total control over that sword.

- Beautiful technique.

Look at this guy go.

Michael Allenson is destroying the course.

- He has total control.

Even his recovery is total control.

- Michael was one watermelon slice away

from perfection, but he failed to slice

completely through that watermelon--

only hit the top, and no red was exposed.

Now he's up to Strike Zone.

Curtain's open.

- One chop. - Oh, flawless.

Right through the canisters.

Right through the fish.

He's got to go to the rope over there.

He forgot the rope! He moved on.

He forgot the rope. Penalty.

- You have to be systematic on how you approach things.

- On to Fire Storm.

Obviously, he can't go back to Strike Zone.

Here he goes.

- What a run.

- Clifton's time of 5:17.

Michael's time of...

2:51!

- Whoa. - Oh, my God!

What a performance!

- He has got to be proud of that.

- That is a new record. - Unbelievable.

Michael Allenson is your winner.

- Good job, bud.

In Knife Fight, my blade took quite a bit of damage.

It was not cutting as well as it should have,

so that slowed me down,

but no regrets had I.

- I'm still in shock about all of this.

I almost can't believe that I won.

- You took out the 2017 BladeSport world champion.

How does that feel? - Unexpectedly awesome.

- We will see you at the grand champion showdown.

- I feel that I did my family and my father proud.

Hey, Dad, I am a man now.