Midnight Mania! Zuck Refutes Musk, Wants to Fight Under UFC or One Umbrella

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

The development of this absurd billionaire CEO super fight between Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla’s Elon Musk has enough twist and turns to serve as a sequel to 2010’s The Social Network. Somebody get David Fincher on the line!

In the most recent update to our saga, Musk clearly stated he was breaking free of UFC and Dana White’s grasp. Instead, Musk intends that he and Zuckerberg stream the bout on their own social media platforms, X.com (it’s still Twitter to me, dammit) and Facebook. He also hinted at Italy’s colosseum as the location, while also bragging about lifting weights directly before admitting he may need back surgery.

Got all that?

Well, Zuckerberg has now responded via his account on Threads, and it seems like the two are not at all on the same page. In fact, Zuckerberg says to disregard anything Musk says as unconfirmed! He explains that he wants to promote the athletes, and that can only be done by pairing with a top-notch promotion.

“I love this sport and I’ve been ready to fight since the day Elon challenged me.” Zuckerberg began. “If he ever agrees on an actual date, you’ll hear it from me. Until then, please assume anything he says has not been agreed on.

Not holding my breath for Elon, but I’ll share details on my next fight when I’m ready. When I compete, I want to do it in a way that puts a spotlight on the elite athletes at the top of the game. You do that by working with professional orgs like the UFC or ONE to pull this off well and create a great card.”

If nothing else, Zuckerberg also appears willing to compete against someone else if and when Musk decides fisticuffs aren’t for him. UFC may not do gimmick fights, but if they were willing to book CM Punk, I have to imagine they’ll make an exception for the Facebook founder as well.

Insomnia

Fernand Lopez, head coach of MMA Factory, is now in charge of European matchmaking for PFL. There’s no way that could create a conflict of interest, right?

Respectfully, Mike Tyson’s entire podcast revolves around getting super baked. The occasional inaccuracy is expected!

This is the kind of analysis and insight I strive to achieve.

I’m fully on board the Basharat brothers hype train. Are you?

I hardly ever cheer for fighters being released (notable exception being Sam Alvey), but Mandy Bohm’s last performance opposite Ji Yeon Kim was pitiful. A rare case where both were cut afterward … someone needs to book the rematch ASAP!

UFC’s loss is PFL’s gain, “The Lazy King” is awesome!

Wall wrestling is my favorite thing to train. It’s an entirely different game from any other kind of grappling, solely unique to MMA.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Fedor was so freaking fast.

This crowd POPPED for the KO!

If One Championship doesn’t run out of money first, 4 oz. gloved Muay Thai is going to be absolutely massive.

Random Land

Critical thinking in action.

Midnight Music: Soft rock, 1979

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.