According to Daily Mail, Zuckerberg and Musk appeared set to battle it out when the latter tweeted that he was ‘up for a cage fight’ with his fellow billionaire, who responded by saying, ‘Send me location’.
UFC president Dana White later confirmed that both men were indeed ‘serious’ about making an MMA showdown he is predicting would generate over $1bn in revenue happen at some stage this year.
White also revealed last week that he had been in talks with the Italian Minister of Culture to discuss staging Zuckerberg vs Musk at the famous Colosseum in Rome – one of the seven wonders of the world.
However, Zuckerberg is now expressing doubts over the fight taking place after writing in a post on his new social-media site Threads, ‘If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official event, he knows how to reach me’.
Over the weekend, Musk also leaked a screenshot of his private messages with Zuckerberg, who reacted negatively to a request for a ‘practice bout’ at his mansion in Palo Alto.
Zuckerberg built an Octagon at the property earlier this month in preparation for his potential clash with Musk, leaving his wife Priscilla Chan furious.
American author Walter Isaacson, who wrote a biography on Musk which is due to be released next month, shared a photo on X of the South African sending him the exchange with Zuckerberg and writing: ‘Wow.’
In the screenshot, the Meta chief responded to Musk’s challenge for a practice bout in his Octagon and said: ‘If you still want to do a real MMA fight, then you should train on your own and let me know when you’re ready to compete.
“I don’t want to keep hyping something that will never happen, so you should either decide you’re going to do this and do it soon, or we should move on.”
According to Business Insider, Musk’s full reply was, “I have not been practicing much, apart from a brief bout with Lex Fridman today.
“While I think it is very unlikely, given our size difference, perhaps you are a modern-day Bruce Lee and will somehow win.’
Zuckerberg’s Threads post about Musk all but confirms the leaked messages were a genuine exchange between the two men, as he spoke out on the practice bout offer and doubted his rival’s willingness to entertain a real contest.
“I offered a real date. [UFC president] Dana White offered to make this a legit competition for charity,’ he said.
“Elon won’t confirm a date, then says he needs surgery, and now asks to do a practice round in my backyard instead.
“If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official event, he knows how to reach me. Otherwise, time to move on. I’m going to focus on competing with people who take the sport seriously.”
