I’ll fight Mark Zuckerberg in Rome, says Elon Musk
Two of the world’s most prominent business magnates may actually duke it out, with Italy confirming it will host the event.
Elon Musk will slug it out with Mark Zuckerberg in a cage fight in Italy, the Twitter/X tycoon has said, as the Italian government confirmed it would host a “great charity event” involving the two men.
The battle between Musk, 52, and Facebook co-founder Zuckerberg, 39, will take place at a Roman era-themed “epic location”, according to Musk. He claimed he had a deal with Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister, and Gennaro Sangiuliano, the culture minister.
Musk wrote on X: “Livestream will be on this platform and Meta. Everything in camera frame will be ancient Rome, so nothing modern at all.”
He first challenged Zuckerberg, who practises jiu-jitsu, to unarmed combat in June, stating he was “up for a cage fight”, provoking a quick response from Zuckerburg, who posted back: “Send me the location.”
The rivalry between the two businessmen has peaked since Zuckerburg’s Meta launched Threads, a rival to Twitter/X, on July 5.
Sangiuliano said on Friday that he had discussed staging an event in Italy during “a long and friendly conversation with Elon Musk” in which they spoke of their shared passion for the history of ancient Rome.
Musk also met Meloni in Rome in June.
He has spoken about the Colosseum, Rome’s ancient gladiatorial arena, as his ideal venue, and on Friday posted the word “gladiators” beside two crossed-sword emojis.
However, Sangiuliano denied that the Italian capital would host the fight, which suggests that it could be held at another Roman-era location in Italy.
Contenders could be the excavated city of Pompeii, where Pink Floyd once played a concert at the amphitheatre, or at the well-preserved Roman amphitheatre in Verona, where operas are regularly staged.
Sangiuliano said that wherever it was held, the event would raise “many millions of euros”, which would be donated to “two important pediatric hospitals in Italy to boost their facilities and scientific research to fight childhood illnesses”.
Writing on X, Musk instead claimed that “all proceeds go to veterans”.
Without giving a date for the fight, Musk, 52, said it would be run by foundations managed by himself and Zuckerburg.
He also posted the Latin phrase “Dulce est desipere in loco,” (a line of poetry that can mean: it is delightful to play the fool occasionally) before adding, “Estne volumen in toga, an solum tibi libet me videre?” (Is that a scroll in your toga, or are you happy to see me?)
Musk is reputed to be the richest person in the world with a fortune of dollars 254 billion while Zuckerberg’s net worth is thought to be dollars 108.1 billion.
The Times
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