Considering the state of the world right now, it was not surprising to see two billionaires threatening each other on their respective social media platforms. While celebrity boxing matches are all the rage nowadays with influencers like Jake Paul and KSI stepping into the squared circle, Elon Musk vs Mark Zuckerberg was a fight none of us had on our 2023 Bingo. Musk has also taken things further by proposing a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fight in a cage, a proposal that Zuckerberg, as per reports, has agreed to.
The fixture has also got UFC President Dana White intrigued. The promoter spoke to the media and even offered to host the contest, calling it “the biggest fight ever in the history of the world. Bigger than anything that’s ever been done.”
He also stated that he spoke with both Musk and Zuckerberg and that this wasn’t a publicity stunt with the two being “dead serious” about the fight. Well, we all love a good scrap and watching two divisive billionaires duke it out in the UFC would certainly be one of the most incredible events of modern history. However, when you cut through all of the rhetoric, you might ask yourself – will the fight actually be a competitive one? Or will it just be a one-sided drubbing? Musk fired the first shot with his takeover of Twitter and now Zuckerberg has returned the blow with a right cross called Threads. While it’s still too early to call the Twitter vs Threads contest, we can at least discuss what an actual fight between the two would be like. So, without further ado, let’s see how the Musk vs Zuckerberg contest in a cage is likely to end.
Is Elon Musk fighting Zuckerberg in the UFC?
Let’s start with Elon Musk. The South African stands at an impressive 6 feet 2 inches and weighs in at about 90 kilograms or about 200 pounds. He’s not a small man by any stretch of the imagination but does he have the requisite pugilistic skills to take on Mark Zuckerberg? Not to mention, Elon Musk is 51 years old while Zuckerberg is 39, so that could also be a factor in an actual fistfight.
However, if anyone could concoct a cocktail of the most potent ‘supplements’, it would be Musk. The man does like to play with fire, evidenced by all the controversies he has landed himself in after his Twitter takeover. He’ll try and run through any opponent with size and power but can he get the best of the wily, reptilian Zuckerberg? That really is the big question here. Will the power of Tesla and Twitter be enough to submit the serpentine reach of Meta and Instagram?
Zuckerberg comes in at a bit of a height and weight disadvantage. He stands 5 feet 7 and a half inches tall and weighs in at a spry 66 kilograms or 145 pounds. While it may look like Elon will just sit on Zuckerberg and force him to say ‘Uncle’, things aren’t as black and white as they seem. You see, Zuckerberg has been in his fortress getting ready for the matchup. The Harvard dropout has been preparing to open up a can of you-know-what for quite some time now. He’s surrounded himself with some of the best Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA coaches in the sport (god knows he can afford them) and is neck-deep in actual competition. Sure, he is severely undersized for a battle with the relatively gigantic Elon Musk, but it would be unwise to place all your bets on the brutish South African. If there’s one thing that MMA has taught us it’s that the smaller, more skilled opponent is like a live dog in a brawl. It does seem like an uphill task but if fighters like Royce Gracie (UFC 1 winner) and Yuki Nakai (Japanese MMA legend) can beat bigger and stronger opponents, so can Zuckerberg.
Musk vs Zuckerberg: Training and Preparation
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When you can afford to buy an island, you’re obviously going to get the best training that money can buy. To that end, both Musk and Zuckerberg have surrounded themselves with some of the most talented grapplers, MMA fighters and coaches out there. They’ve both been spotted training with podcast host and legitimate BJJ black belt Lex Friendman, who also had good things to say about both competitors. While there is some footage of Elon Musk sparring with Freidman, there is far more evidence that Zuckerberg is actually doing the right things in order to win the fight and maybe even lay a beatdown on his rival.
Musk has been training with one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time in Georges St Pierre and arguably the best submission grappling coach in the world, John Danaher, but will it be enough to hold off the grappling chops of Zuckerberg? The 39-year-old has been training hard for the past few years with grappling phenom Mikey Musumeci and PFL (Professional Fighters League) fighter Khai Wu. There’s footage of him hitting the pads, sparring with Wu, and rolling with Mikey and he actually looks legit. He understands the fundamentals and does all the right things in the footage. While there’s no accounting for how he will react to being punched in the face by a much bigger Elon Musk, it’s safe to say that Zuckerberg is training hard and is looking ‘dangerous’. The Facebook founder is also a hardcore fan of MMA, so much so that he rented out the UFC Apex to watch a UFC fight card with only his friends and family around.
Musk vs Zuckerberg: Tactics and Mindset
Both these gentlemen are at the top of their game as far as successful careers go and there’s a reason for that. Zuckerberg and Musk are winners. They like winning. If the cinematic portrayal of Zuckerberg in The Social Network wasn’t enough to convince you of his ruthless nature, just look at his BJJ competition matches. The man wants to hurt people, and if Musk isn’t careful, he could be the next victim of Zuck’s rear-naked choke.
Musk, on the other hand, started PayPal, went on to buy Tesla and has now overtaken Twitter, so he clearly isn’t interested in playing games. He’s got a winner’s mindset but tactically, can he overcome the skills and slithering strikes of Zuckerberg? You can be mentally tough but if your body is weak, with enough punishment, even the toughest of the lot will eventually wilt.
The jury is still out on whether Musk can actually deal with the punches flying at his face.
Where will the fight take place?
A Musk vs Zuckerberg cage fight could be the biggest event in fight promotion history. So what could be a better place to host the battle than the famed Roman Colosseum? Symbolically, the arena would be the perfect place for the billionaires to duke it out. While they’re a far cry from the actual gladiators of the time, it would still be an incredible freak-show spectacle that the entire world would tune in to watch.
As far as promotions go, there is only one company that is well-equipped to handle a fight of this magnitude and that is the UFC. Sure, this is a gimmick fight and not a contest between two skilled fighters, however, it would still net the UFC more money than they can actually count. The hype for this fight would make Conor McGregor vs Khabib look like a high school play in comparison to a Broadway musical.
The Intangibles
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It seems that the war of words between the two billionaires has spilt over onto the current Threads vs Twitter debate. Threads is essentially Meta’s competitor to Twitter and features a similar layout. It is even rumoured that Threads recruited a few people who were fired from Twitter a few months ago. This has led to Musk labelling Threads as a cheap copy of Twitter and threatening legal action.
It’s come to a point now where both Musk and Zuckerberg need to settle the score in some way or another. If a cage fight isn’t on the cards then maybe they could agree to a grappling match. No harm. No foul. No one gets seriously hurt and everyone walks away with their dignity intact. In fact, this was how the Fertitta brothers (previous owners of the UFC) settled their disputes. They would spar with each other in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and whoever won would get his way.
It seems like the only avenue forward is for the two billionaires to let out all their frustrations on each other and whatever form that may take, you can bet we’ll be watching with a giant bucket of pop corn.
This article first appeared on Augustman India
(Hero and feature image: Courtesy Instagram/@Lex Fridman and @Mark Zuckerberg)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Elon Musk is substantially bigger than Mark Zuckerberg but at the end of the day, Zuckerberg has been training in MMA and BJJ for a long time and will likely have the skills needed to submit or knock out Elon Musk in a cage match.
Elon Musk challenged Zuckerberg as a joke but somewhere along the line, things got serious. So much so that even the UFC has gotten involved. No one knows exactly why but we suspect Elon had an idea that Meta’s Twitter competitor, Threads, was launching soon, further fueling their rivalry.
