With the possibility of a billionaire brawl featuring Twitter’s Elon Musk and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg going down, the latter recently spent some time on the mats with two UFC champions.
A mixed martial arts match between Musk and Zuckerberg has been a hot topic online for weeks since Zuckerberg’s Threads — a direct competitor to Twitter — was revealed. Musk challenged his counterpart to a “cage match” via Twitter on June 20 and Zuckerberg responded through an Instagram Story, writing: “Send me location.”
Although nothing has been officially confirmed from either party, it appears that Zuckerberg and Musk have been busy working out with elite-level mixed martial artists.
Israel Adesanya, the UFC’s middleweight king, posted a photo on July 11 of himself, Zuckerberg, and Alexander Volkanovski — the reigning UFC featherweight champion — standing in a gym, side by side and shirtless. “No fugazi with Mark,” Adesanya wrote in the Instagram post’s caption. “This is serious business!” Take a look at the photo above.
Geo-located to Lake Tahoe, the photo was shared a few days after Volkanovski notched his fifth 145-pound title defense. He fought then-interim champion Yair Rodriguez during the UFC 290 headlining act at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on July 8. “The Great” utilized grappling in the first two rounds to control the striking savant before hurting him on the feet during the third frame, which led to a TKO finish.
Adesanya is three months removed from taking his 185-pound strap back from his longtime rival, Alex Pereira. Pereira, who defeated “The Last Stylebender” twice in kickboxing a few years back, dethroned Adesanya in November at UFC 281 via fifth-round TKO. Not to be deterred by the 0-3 spread, Adesanya rematched “Poatan” at UFC 287 in April and was triumphant. Adesanya caught Pereira flush with a punch during the second round of their Miami, Florida scrap, and he knocked out the Brazilian with follow-up strikes.
Zuckerberg has been sharing some of his martial arts training for the better part of a year. For example, he posted a photo via Instagram in May of select moments during his first-ever Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournament, including getting his hand raised after a gi and no-gi match.
On the other end, Musk had his photo taken with mixed martial arts legend and former two-division UFC champion Georges St-Pierre after a training session earlier this month. Renowned Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach John Danaher and computer scientist and popular podcaster Lex Fridman were also pictured.
St-Pierre, known as “GSP,” is regarded as one of the greatest mixed martial artists ever and was inducted into the UFC’s Hall of Fame in 2020. GSP held both the 185 and 170-pound belts during his Octagon tenure, and he officially retired from the sport in 2019. However, the Canadian is slated to compete in a submission grappling match at the UFC Fight Pass Invitational in December.
UFC president Dana White said Zuckerberg vs. Musk is happening
Speaking with TSN last week, UFC president Dana White was asked about the possibility of Zuckerberg vs. Musk, and whether he’d want to be involved in hosting it. White said the match would generate over $1 billion in revenue and while signaling his interest, he confirmed that the two tech giants were set to throw hands inside the promotion’s famous cage.
“I do,” White said about wanting the match to happen. “We’ll announce it when we’re ready.” However, it wouldn’t be a part of the impending UFC 300 spectacle next year, White said.
One of the men pictured with Zuckerberg, Volkanovski, spoke with Ariel Helwani on “The MMA Hour” on July 10 about training with the Meta CEO back in February. He echoed White’s belief that the fight would play out and he called Zuckerberg “well-rounded” and “pretty athletic.”
Well, without me seeing either man in the gym, a match between Zuckerberg and Musk would likely come down to skill versus size. It appears that Zuckerberg has a lot more experience training in different martial arts than Musk, as well as live competition. However, the Tesla CEO is much bigger than Zuckerberg, which could play a major factor if the Facebook founder isn’t careful. Regardless, Zuck vs. Musk would undeniably be one of the biggest pay-per-view sporting events ever, especially if the UFC is involved.
As for my own prediction? Within the first round, Zuckerberg will utilize his grappling to take his larger-yet-untrained opponent to the ground, which would ultimately lead to a submission win for the Meta CEO. Time will tell.
