We’ve been reporting on the progress of the MMA fight that Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg had agreed to, although they hadn’t yet decided upon a location or a date. Musk also said that he had to check on the timing because of surgery that he might need to have, after Zuckerberg talked about possibly fighting on Aug. 26.
Musk then announced that they’d agreed to stream the match on their various platforms and that the money from the match would be donated to a veteran’s charity. There was even discussion about it possibly being in Italy, and Musk spoke to the Italian culture minister, Gennaro Sangiuliano,
But then things seemed to go south.
Zuckerberg released a statement saying he was ready to fight but he didn’t think that Musk was serious.
I think we can all agree Elon isn’t serious and it’s time to move on. I offered a real date. 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.
Then Musk showed that he had offered to fight Zuckerberg in his backyard in Zuckerberg’s Octagon, but Zuckerberg didn’t take him up on it.
“If you still want to do a real MMA fight, then you should train on your own and let me know when you’re ready to compete,” Zuckerberg replied to Musk’s suggestion. “I don’t want to keep hyping something that will never happen, so you should either decide you’re going to do this and do it soon, or we should move on.”
Musk told Zuckerberg that he would be in Palo Alto on Monday and proposed to “fight in [Zuckerberg’s] Octagon,” adding, “I have not been practicing much, apart from a brief bout with Lex Fridman today. While I think it is very unlikely, give our size difference, perhaps you are a modern day Bruce Lee and will somehow win.”
Musk pointed out that Zuckerberg had said “send location” and Musk said his backyard, but then Zuckerberg didn’t take him up on it.
Despite that, the media made it appear that Musk had backed out or was dismissing the fight, despite offering the fight.
Then on Sunday, Musk dropped a few names on Zuckerberg. He said Zuckerberg was a “chicken” and couldn’t eat at Chick-fil-A “because that would be cannibalism.”
Then he said he would be knocking on his door regardless.
Now, on Monday, Musk is saying that he’s driving to Zuckerberg’s house in the evening, doing a Tesla test drive, while also testing the live stream, and knocking on his door to fight.
(Zuck thread coming soon about how he would of course love to fight anytime, but blah blah UFC something something)
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 14, 2023
It looks like he’s got Zuckerberg’s number — Zuckerberg did say, “Send me location” and Musk did. But Zuckerberg is backing away.
That’s too bad because it could have been great fun.
However, the bigger problem for Zuckerberg here?
Musk has been winning the fight in the eyes of the people when it comes to free speech, saying he would stand up for people and pay the legal fees of those who got in trouble with their employers for anything that they posted on his X platform. But questions are being raised about new policies being put in place by his CEO, so he still has some things he has to iron out on his platform.
But Zuckerberg has already lost the main bout — that is, the fight between Threads and X — as Threads appears to be tanking.
