Zuckerberg vs. Musk wasn’t exactly going to be the MMA Fight of the Century. “In this corner, we have a 39-year-old father of three, weighing in at a lean 155 pounds and best known for his combative pursuit of a virtual reality where people only recently got legs… MARK ZUCKBERG! And in the opposite corner, weighing in at 187 or 224, depending on the time of year, it’s the 52-year-old owner of a confusing, money-losing social media platform, and best known for his sick burns… ELON MUSK!”
The two tech titans had kinda-sorta agreed to a mixed martial arts fight at some indeterminate date, something to which both men have devoted some serious training. Musk claimed on Twitter (X, whatever) that he might need some kind of minor surgery following an MRI on his upper back, after Zuckerberg pitched an Aug. 26 fight date.
It should have been fun to watch:
Given their backgrounds in jiu-jitsu, it’s more probable that if a fight between Zuckerburg and Musk happens, it will take on a UFC style, as opposed to traditional boxing. Zuckerburg has a history in the sport, while Musk has trained with notable MMA practitioners John Danaher and Lex Friedman.
It doesn’t seem like Musk’s MRI indicated that he needed surgery after all, because late last week he suggested the cage match be held at an “epic location” in Italy, and even went so far as to call Italy’s culture minister, Gennaro Sangiuliano.
“I had a long and friendly phone conversation with Elon Musk,” Sangiuliano said. “We talked about the common passion for the history of ancient Rome. We are discussing how to organise a great charity and historical evocation event, in full respect of the sites. It will not,” however, “be held in Rome.”
Musk insisted, however, tweeting (fine, it’s “posting” now) on Twitter (X, really) last Friday that the fight would livestream on his platform and on Zuckerberg’s rival Threads. “Everything in camera frame will be ancient Rome, so nothing modern at all.”
But things fell apart over the weekend, with Zuckerberg and the press claiming that Musk had chickened out.
On Saturday, Zuckerberg complained on Threads that “I love this sport and I’ve been ready to fight since the day Elon challenged me. If he ever agrees on an actual date, you’ll hear it from me.”
And on Sunday afternoon he, uh, threaded:
I think we can all agree Elon isn’t serious and it’s time to move on. I offered a real date. Dana White offered to make this a legit competition for charity. 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.
Matt Drudge — almost always now on the wrong side of everything — devoted a Drudge Report panel to the controversy.
The Hill’s Monday morning headline reads: “Zuckerberg: Musk isn’t serious about cage fight and ‘it’s time to move on’.”
NBC News: “Zuckerberg dismisses Musk for avoiding cage fight.”
And the Verge pulled no punches with their headline: Zuckerberg says he’s ready to fight and that Elon keeps making things up.
Here’s the thing: Musk screencapped his text message conversation with Zuck and tweeted it on Twitter posted it on X:
— X News Daily (@xDaily) August 13, 2023
Maybe I’m wrong, but it sure looks to me like Musk is willing to fight Zuck at almost any time or place, and that it’s Zuck making excuses. Perhaps most fascinating of all is Musk’s promise (threat?) on Sunday to “bang on his door tomorrow and demand to fight.”
Stay tuned.
I’ll give the last word to Musk because it’s just so brutal.
He can’t eat at chic fil a because that would be cannibalism
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 13, 2023
That’s gonna leave a Mark.
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