After another round of social media theatrics, Zuckerberg has said he’s no longer willing to hype up a fight with Musk that isn’t going to happen.
Mark Zuckerberg is sick of Elon Musk playing games instead of taking their potential UFC fight seriously.
The Facebook / Meta founder has been training hard and preparing for a billionaire vs. billionaire brawl in the UFC. Musk? He’s been talking a lot about the fight on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, but he hasn’t been training much. And a recent suggestion from Elon that they duke it out in Musk’s backyard octagon instead (a real thing) has soured Zuck on the whole idea.
Musk shared a back and forth message exchange with Zuckerberg where he proposed the private mid-week scrap.
This is the full message: pic.twitter.com/UzbKoIkFOc
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 13, 2023
“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,” Zuckerberg wrote. “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.”
“I will be in Palo Alto on Monday,” Musk countered. “Let’s fight in your Octagon. I have not been practicing much apart from a brief bout with [podcaster 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 people responded to press inquiries regarding the offer by saying “Mark is traveling right now and isn’t in Palo Alto. Also, Mark takes this sport seriously and isn’t going to fight someone who randomly shows up at his house.”
Later, the Facebook founder posted on his Twitter clone Threads suggesting he was done dealing with Musk’s foolishness.
Zuck is a chicken
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 13, 2023
“I think we can all agree Elon isn’t serious and it’s time to move on,” he wrote. “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.”
In response, Musk called Zuck a chicken.
If we’re not going to get Zuckerberg vs. Musk in the Colesseum, the least these two rich dudes could do is beat each other up in private. We never thought we’d be out here cheering on Mark Zuckerberg, but he’s the one that’s actually training mixed martial arts and treating the sport with respect.
Even without Elon Musk’s involvement, Zuckerberg sounds committed to having a UFC fight … so at least we have that to look forward to. From Musk? Expect more theatrics without much substance.