Dana White: Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg ‘dead serious’ about fighting in UFC octagon

Dana White Says Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg ‘Dead Serious’ About Fighting in UFC | TMZ SPORTS

Following a social media spat, tech billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are “absolutely dead serious” about fighting each other in the UFC Octagon.

The statement came from UFC president Dana White in an interview with TMZ Live on Thursday. White said he had spent an hour and a half speaking with the two from Wednesday night until Thursday.

Zuckerberg has recently begun competing in jiu-jitsu, while Musk said he had done martial arts. White is down for a fight between the two billionaires. So much so that the 53-year-old is willing to build an entire card with Musk vs. Zuckerberg as the headliner.

White is optimistic this fight will be the most-watched ever. It is possible to triple what the Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor brawl in 2017 brought in — which is 4.3 million buys domestically.

Feud between two tech billionaires

On Wednesday, Musk responded to a report that Zuckerberg’s Meta was planning to launch its version of Twitter called Thread. Musk purchased Twitter in October 2022, while Zuckerberg’s Meta owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

A Twitter user jokingly cautioned Musk to watch what he says, given Zuckerberg’s jiu-jitsu skills, but Musk said, “I’m up for a cage match if he is lol.” Zuckerberg responded with a screenshot of Elon’s tweet and “Send me location,” a Khabib Nurmagomedov-inspired message.

The two tech entrepreneurs have taken turns in jabs over the years. For example, Musk once tweeted that “Instagram makes people depressed.” He also called Facebook “lame” after deleting Tesla and SpaceX Facebook pages.

On the other hand, Zuckerberg publicly criticized Musk for the failed SpaceX launch. He also disagreed with Musk regarding the potential risks of AI technology.

The fight announcement has garnered mixed reactions from the public. Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, told CNBC Make It that the feud had gotten nastier and that the only way to settle it was in the cage.