Mark Zuckerberg Denies Being Choked Out in Jiu-Jitsu Match
Mark Zuckerberg recently made headlines after winning gold and silver medals in his very first Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournament. But despite the victory, the Facebook founder is emphatically hitting back at reports that he was choked unconscious during the match by an Uber engineer he was squaring off against.
This is according to the New York Times, in a story published on Friday about the 39-year-old's workout regime, which includes military-style endurance challenges in addition to marital arts, running, and surfing. In an excerpt about Zuckerberg's inaugural match, the piece noted that "he defeated an Uber engineer and won two medals, and lost consciousness."
José Lucas Costa da Silva, a veteran jiu-jitsu fighter who refereed the match, told the Times that he halted the bout after "he heard Mr. Zuckerberg start to snore, a sign of someone who has passed out in a choke hold."
"This is something we are trained to know,” explained Costa da Silva, adding that Zuckerberg was a good sport who was "enjoying the moment."
Good sport or not, both Zuckerberg and his trainer Dave Camarillo are unequivocally denying that he ever lost consciousness. "That never happened," Zuckerberg wrote in an email to the publication, which updated the story. Camarillo added that the ref "mistook his student’s effortful grunting for snores."
UPDATE: After publishing our story, I heard from both Mark Zuckerberg and his Brazilian jujitsu coach. They both insisted that Mr. Zuckerberg had *not* lost consciousness, and the coach said that the referee had mistaken his effortful grunting for snores: https://t.co/xicWVdSfke
— Joe Bernstein (@Bernstein) June 3, 2023
A spokesperson for Meta likewise denied reports of Zuckerberg getting choked out in an email statement to The Daily Beast.
"At no point during the competition was Mark knocked unconscious," Meta spokesperson Elana Widmann told the publication, reiterating Zuckerberg's assertion that it "never happened.”
According to Widmann, another Meta spokesperson who attended the competition allegedly claimed to have witnessed the referee "[apologize] to Zuckerberg and his coach for prematurely calling the match."
One might think this would be the least of the Meta CEO's concerns amid news of 21,000 layoffs and ordering employees back to the office starting this fall. Even more unfortunate is the irony that the detail would have almost certainly been overlooked had it not been for Zuckerberg's zealous denial.