Twitter CEO Elon Musk and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg appear to be in the process of organising a real-life fight.
This strange story sprang up on Twitter after Elon Musk replied to a post about Meta’s upcoming Twitter rival, saying of Zuckerberg, “I’m up for a cage match if he is lol.”
I’m up for a cage match if he is lol
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 21, 2023
Zuckerberg took the bait, posting from the comfort of his own platform Instagram, which is owned by Facebook parent company Meta.
“Send me location,” he posted, overlaying the text on a screen grab of Musk’s original conversation on Twitter.
Musk has since tweeted “Vegas Octagon”, a venue for UFC fights in Las Vegas.
Is it real? “The story speaks for itself,” the BBC was told by a Meta spokesperson.
This surreal spat is playing out against a backdrop of a year of massive lay-offs at both the CEOs’ respective companies. Meta fired more than 10,000 employees in March, a move that followed a further 11,000 cut staff in November 2022.
Elon Mush has reportedly cut Twitter’s staff by more than 80 per cent since he took over the platform in October 2022, while ad revenues have dropped by 59 per cent.
The tech giants are playing like content creators, encouraging comparisons to the 2019 fight between YouTubers Logan Paul and KSI.
However, it is not a great surprise Zuckerberg reacted as he did to Elon Musk’s taunt. Zuckerberg regularly talks about his ju-jitsu training on Instagram. Six weeks ago, he posted about his “first ju-jitsu tournament,” in which he claims to have won some medals.
Meanwhile, Musk says, “I have this great move that I call ‘The Walrus’, where I just lie on top of my opponent and do nothing.”
Musk is 6ft 2in, and significantly heavier than the trimmer 5ft 7in Zuckerberg.
The original Twitter conversation in which Musk appeared to challenge Zuckerberg was a discussion of Meta’s rumoured Twitter rival. This has not yet been officially announced to the public, but its development was confirmed to the BBC earlier this month.
“We’re exploring a standalone decentralised social network for sharing text updates,” Meta said.
The social network has a development codename of “P92” and could potentially be Twitter’s most serious like-for-like rival, alongside Bluesky, which was founded by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
What odds have been given on the Musk vs Zuckerberg fight?
Bookies Paddy Power have placed odds on the Musk vs Zuckerberg showdown.
Interestingly, the betting firm thinks it is likely the fight won’t happen at all — 10/11 — but, if it does take place, it’s 10/1 to happen this year, and 2/1 says “fans of pointless brawls” will likely have to wait until 2025 for the match to happen.
Paddy Power isn’t convinced by Mr Zuckerberg’s previous martial arts experience, so it’s odds-on 4/6 that the fight goes the distance, while the chances of a tie are rated at a short 3/1.
But it doesn’t have much faith in Mr Musk, either, rating both tech bosses at a 20/1 shot at landing a knock-out blow, and also 10/11 for either of them possibly winning outright.
And if you fancy betting on where such a cage fight might be shown, there’s a 4/6 likelihood that the match will be streamed live on Twitter or Facebook.
Will Elon Musk really have a cage fight with Mark Zuckerberg?
The pair have certainly made it seem like they are game for a brawl, but how likely it is that it even takes place remains to be seen.
Elon Musk’s billionaire parents have even weighed in on the supposed upcoming battle, encouraging their boy not to take part.
In an interview with The Sun newspaper, Musk’s father, Errol Musk, said his son was in a lose/lose scenario, saying the upcoming fight was not a great look for his super-rich son.
He said: “The thing is, if this crazy fight goes ahead, if Elon beats this guy, Elon will be called a bully, being so much heavier and taller... While, if he loses, the humiliation would be total... Elon loses if he wins and loses if he loses.”
Musk’s mum Maye also waded in on the debate, of course taking to social media to make her feelings clear.
She said: “Fight with words only. In armchairs. Four feet apart. The funniest person wins.”
In a different tweet, she also claimed that the fight had been “cancelled” at her behest but it remains to be announced whether the fight has indeed been called off.
Indeed, reports are even rife that Elon Musk has begun training in mixed martial arts in preparation for the billionaire brawl.
Pictures have emerged showing Musk in an “impromptu training session” ahead of the bout, which just happened to be caught on camera by a pal.
“I did an impromptu training session with Elon Musk for a few hours yesterday,” tweeted Lex Fridman, his friend who is also a scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Fridman then shared two photos from the session.
He said: “I’m extremely impressed with his strength, power, and skill, on the feet and on the ground,” with Musk replying saying, “That was fun!”.
Fridman continued: “It’s really inspiring to see Elon and Mark doing martial arts, but I think the world is served far better if they train martial arts but not fight in the cage.”
