Tech billionaires Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg ‘dead serious’ about cage fight

What initially seemed joke between two of the world’s richest men, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, could actually materialise … in a UFC Octagon, all for charity.

'Dead serious': Tech billionaires Elon Musk (left) and Mark Zuckerberg could soon face off in a cage match to raise money for charity. Pictures: File

Billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg say they are “absolutely deadly serious” about fighting each other in a UFC Octagon to raise money for charity.

It began on Wednesday when Musk tweeted he would be “up for a cage match” if Zuckerberg was to release a rival to Twitter.

On Thursday morning Zuckerberg, who has recently been in jiu-jitsu competitions, posted a screenshot of Musk’s tweet with the caption “Send me location”.

Vegas Octagon

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 22, 2023

Speaking to entertainment website TMZ, UFC president Dana White said both men wanted to fight in Las Vegas.

“I was talking with both Elon and Mark last night, both guys are absolutely dead serious about this,” White said.

“They both want to do it.

“This would be the biggest fight ever in the history of the world, it would break all records, these guys would raise hundreds of millions of dollars for charity.”

While Musk’s combat sports skills are questionable, Zuckerberg has at least been training in Brazilian jiu jitsu for the past few years. Last month, he posted of his participation in jiu jitsu tournaments, at which he’s won medals in gi and no-gi events.

“Competed in my first jiu jitsu tournament and won some medals for the Guerrilla Jiu Jitsu team,” he wrote.

“Thanks to Dave Camarillo, Khai Wu, and James Terry for training me!”

On the Lex Fridman podcast, Zuckerberg spoke of his love of the sport and his first competition.

““I’m a competitive person. Doing sports that basically require your full attention, I think is really important to my mental health and the way I just stay focused on doing everything I’m doing. So I decided to get into martial arts and it’s, it’s awesome,” Zuckerberg said.

“I got a ton of my friends into it. We all train together. We have a mini Academy in my garage. And one of my friends was like, ‘Hey, we should go do a tournament’. I was like, okay, yeah, let’s do it. I’m not gonna shy away from a challenge.

“I registered under my first and middle name, so Mark Elliot, and it wasn’t until I actually like pulled all that stuff off right before I got on the mat that I think people knew it was me.”