Elon Musk is talking about physically fighting Mark Zuckerberg again. There still aren't any actual plans for a fight in motion though, making it look like X/Twitter's owner continues to remain all bark and no bite.
In a video posted to X by Fox News reporter Kelly Phares, Musk states that he's still game to get his ass handed to him by Meta's CEO. The two billionaires spent much of last year teasing the possibility of a cage fight, though nothing ever eventuated.
"I'll fight Zuckerberg any place, any time, any rules," Musk declared on Wednesday, displaying shockingly misplaced bravado.
Responding to the news on Threads, Zuckerberg merely said, "Are we really doing this again?"
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While Musk only began preparing for the proposed billionaire cage match last July, Zuckerberg has publicly been practising mixed martial arts (MMA) for years. He has won multiple medals in a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) tournament, and his passion for combat sports was even listed as a risk to Meta's business in its annual report filed in February.
Yet despite his comparative lack of training, Musk has previously expressed a belief that he could triumph over Zuck purely because he is heavier, claiming to weigh "at least 300 lbs" (136 kg). Zuckerberg medaled in a BJJ tournament's featherweight division last May, which has a weight limit of 154.5 lbs (70 kg).
But again, to reiterate, Zuckerberg medaled in a BJJ tournament. The very next month after this occurred, Musk stated that he "almost never" exercises "except for picking up my kids & throwing them in the air."
To be fair to Musk, he's far from the only average man harbouring a strange, baseless belief that he could beat a dedicated athlete at their chosen sport. This does not make it any less embarrassing.
Musk's bold claim that he's ready to go "any place, any time, any rules" is clearly hyperbole. He likely wouldn't agree to pistols at dawn. Even so, his past behaviour throws serious doubt on whether Musk is actually willing to fight Zuck at all.
The SpaceX CEO was the first to raise the possibility of a fight himself, posting to X last June that he was "up for a cage match if [Zuckerberg] is." While many dismissed it as a joke, Zuckerberg responded with an Instagram Story screenshotting the post and telling Musk to "Send Me Location."
"Vegas Octogon," Musk wrote on X. "I have this great move that I call 'The Walrus', where I just lie on top of my opponent & do nothing."
This unserious reply seemed to suggest that Musk never truly intended to fistfight Zuckerberg. Indeed, the entire matter could easily have ended there. However, Musk subsequently announced in early August that his fight with Zuckerberg would be livestreamed on X for charity.
This was apparent news to Zuckerberg, who quickly made clear that any arrangements for a Musk vs. Zuck fight were far from settled. In addition to proposing a "more reliable platform that can actually raise money for charity," Facebook's co-founder revealed that he had suggested a date of Aug. 26 when Musk first proposed the fight in June. Unfortunately, Musk still had not confirmed the date over a month later.
"Not holding my breath," Zuckerberg wrote on Threads.
Responding in a post on X, Musk stated that the date of the fight was "in flux" because he might need to get surgery first. However, Zuckerberg shared that Musk had requested a private practice round before committing to a public fight, suggesting that it wasn't health issues that were keeping him out of the ring. Practice matches before a fight are not standard practice in MMA.
Musk confirmed that he had asked for a practice round to be held prior to Aug. 26, and even declared an intention to simply show up at Zuckerberg's Palo Alto house on Aug. 14 to fight. Zuckerberg was not in the city at the time.
"I offered a real date," Zuckerberg wrote. "[President of Ultimate Fighting Championship] Dana White offered to make this a legit competition for charity. Elon won't confirm a date, then says he needs surgery, and now asks to do a practice round in my backyard instead. If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official event, he knows how to reach me. Otherwise, time to move on. I'm going to focus on competing with people who take the sport seriously."
Musk responded by calling Zuckerberg a "chicken," which seems pretty hypocritical coming from a guy apparently doing his best to dodge a fight that he proposed. Until we actually see the two physically square up, it seems as though all this talk of a billionaire brawl is simply hot air for inflating Musk's chest.
