The UFC president continues to tease the possibility of a battle of the billionaires between Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla’s Elon Musk.
UFC president Dana White continues to promote the hell out of a hypothetical fight between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. His latest tease that a clash of the tech billionaires may actually go down in his promotion? A new social media video where Dana shows off a UFC-branded t-shirt with ‘ZUCKERBERG -VS- MUSK’ emblazoned on it.
White also mixed it up in the comments section, throwing shade at random people who dared suggest this was a gimmick fight.
“This isn’t a gimmick fight,” White declared. “Gimmick is MMA guys going to Boxing and getting beat. We have seen it already and know how it ends. This is a fight between 2 of the most powerful / richest guys in the world. Who will win? Who has seen this before? NOBODY. It’s also a crossover fight that literally EVERY EVERYONE will watch.”
— danawhite (@danawhite) June 25, 2023
“Keep watching MMA vs. Boxer in boxing,” he told someone else. “Apparently u love those fights even though u KNOW EXACTLY who’s gonna win. All good.”
White is undoubtedly right about it being a fight that will cross over into mainstream consciousness, one that everyone will want to see. But let’s be clear: it is a gimmick. Just because it’s not the MMA vs. Boxing gimmick doesn’t exempt it from being a gimmick. White even underscored the specific gimmick in his comment: richest guys in the world fighting each other.
The UFC’s stated goal (as per Dana White himself) is to put on fights between the best martial artists in the world. A gimmick “is a trick or device intended to attract attention, publicity, or business.” Considering the Zuck is still a white belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Elon Musk’s experience is limited to “very dated judo, Kyokushin (full contact) & no rules streetfighting” experience, this ain’t the best vs. the best. So what is it? A gimmick.
And that’s fine with us. Just don’t go around claiming this isn’t a gimmick. Because it is. It’s also probably just a promotional stunt as well, and that’s the real sin here.