UFC president wants billionaire brawl between Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk
If Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg want to fight, Dana White will give them a ring.
The UFC president and Las Vegas resident said Thursday afternoon, “I’m serious, dead serious,” when asked if he’d promote and present a bout between Twitter owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Meta-Facebook overlord Mark Zuckerberg.
“If they want to do it, I want to do it,” White said in a phone chat just after landing in L.A. “The format would be UFC-style, in the cage.”
Musk initiated the tiff by mocking Zuckerberg’s Meta attempting to start up its own “sanely run” competitor to Twitter. “I’m sure Earth can’t wait to be exclusively under Zuck’s thumb with no other options,” Musk posted. “At least it will be ‘sane.’” He continued, “I’m up for a cage match if he is lol.”
Over on Instagram (which is owned by Meta), Zuckerberg responded with a screenshot of Musk’s tweet, captioned: “Send Me Location.”
“If this is for real, I will do it,” Musk tweeted in response. He also tweeted, “Vegas Octagon.”
Enter White.
Zuckerberg is actually trained in mixed martial arts. The Facebook founder posted about completing his first jiu jitsu tournament last month. Musk joked about his fighting skills and workout routine saying “I have this great move that I call ‘The Walrus’, where I just lie on top of my opponent & do nothing.”
I have this great move that I call “The Walrus”, where I just lie on top of my opponent & do nothing
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 22, 2023
Whether or not Musk and Zuckerberg actually make it to the ring has yet to be seen — especially as Musk often tweets about action prematurely or without following through. But, even if their cage match agreement is all a joke, the banter gained attention. An endless chain of memes and posts to “choose your fighter” have sprung up in response.
Team elon https://t.co/MMNfz5n30y
— . (@ivanpovoks) June 22, 2023
Team Elon!!! pic.twitter.com/m0EOAnl8XD
— 𝟾𝟷𝙼𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚅𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚜𝙼𝚢𝙰𝚜𝚜! (@DebbieThomas88) June 22, 2023
Let's do it! I've got $10M on Team Zuck. pic.twitter.com/GuoFhCBBh3
— jjam6 (@jjam6) June 21, 2023
Team Zuck pic.twitter.com/Mb8dzDDUaS
— Dizzy (@dizalifornia) June 22, 2023
Despite the uncertainity of a cage match actually happening, bids are already being placed for a projected winner. DraftKings’ projected odds stood at 140+ for Musk and -160 for Zuckerberg on Thursday.
Review-Journal reporter Rochelle Richards contributed to this report.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.