Elon Musk dispelled doubts about what is shaping up to be the fight of the century between him and his nemesis Mark Zuckerberg.
For a few days now, the tech planet and the world of sport have been wondering whether the two billionaires will really face each other in a cage fight. It was Musk, the CEO of Tesla (TSLA), who extended the invitation on Twitter, the social network he acquired for $44 billion last October.
Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta Platforms (META), took up the challenge on Instagram, one of the platforms in his social media empire.
"I’m up for a cage match if he is lol," Musk said, on June 20, annoyed by what he sees as Zuckerberg trying to control the social-media industry by offering almost everything competitors are offering, enabling him to virtually take over the online-advertising market.`
'Vegas Octagon'
Musk couldn't stand that Meta was about to launch a rival platform to Twitter.
"Send Me Location," Zuckerberg responded on Instagram on June 21.
"Vegas Octagon," Musk then said the same day on Twitter.
The prospect of seeing two of the world's most famous billionaires face off fist to fist is creating enormous excitement on social media, where sides were being chosen and bets were about to be placed. But the question remains: will this fight really happen or is it just a way for the two billionaires to troll each other?
"Actually, I canceled the fight. I haven’t told them yet. But I will continue to say the fight is canceled, just in case…🤨" Maye Musk, the billionaire's mother, commented on June 22.
In another tweet, she asked a Twitter user not to "encourage this match."
As the excitement over a physical confrontation between her son and Zuckerberg continued to mount, Maye again tried to bring the excitement down by proposing a "verbal fight only."
"Three questions each. The funniest answers win. Who agrees?" she suggested on June 23.
'It Might Actually Happen'
But 24 hours later, her son has just killed this proposal, by uttering the words that will please his millions of fans and martial arts enthusiasts around the world. The cage fight with Zuckerberg may happen, the Techno King has just declared.
"It might actually happen," Musk said on June 24, when asked about his thoughts on the cage fight during an audio live interview on Twitter Spaces, with Bloomberg's journalist Ashlee Vance.
He indicated that he had not yet started to train for this fight but that he would, if it took place.
"Well, I haven't started training yet," Musk said but "if this does happen I will train."
Since challenging Zuckerberg, Musk has revealed that he has practiced judo and street fighting.
" I trained in judo, Kyokushin (full contact) & no rules streetfighting," he said on June 23.
As for Zuckerberg, he got into jiu-jitsu during the covid-19 lockdown. Last month, he won two medals in the Brazilian martial art. As a result, many believe that he would have an advantage in such a match.
"Mark Zuckerberg hit me up first and said ‘is he serious?’” UFC president Dana White told TMZ Sports on June 22, adding that he spoke with the two tech billionaires about their feud.
White indicated that he is already in "early stages” of planning how to put on the fight.
"This would be the biggest fight ever in the history of the world, bigger than anything that’s ever been done,” White said. "It would break all pay-per-view records.”
A standard UFC pay-per-view show costs $80, but White said that he would charge $100 for the Musk-Zuckerberg fight. The actual pay-per-view record is the fight between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather in 2017.
$1 Billion Fight?
That fight generated more than $600 million in revenue, according to White, who believes that the Musk-Zuckerberg fight will set new record.
"I think it triples [Mayweather-McGregor],” he said. "There’s no limit on what this thing can make.”
Musk is the richest man in the world with a net wealth estimated at $230 billion as of June 23, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, while Zuckerberg is ranked 10th, with a net wealth of $105 billion.
The rivalry between the two tech billionaires has crystallized in recent weeks around "Project 92," or "Barcelona."
"Project 92" is reportedly a platform Meta is developing to essentially mirror Twitter. The app is said to enable creators to have conversations with their audiences and peers, using a maximum of 500 characters alongside attachable links, photos, and videos. Users will also be able to engage with posts through replies, likes, and reposts.
Creators will be able to link their Instagram accounts with the new app and bring along their followers as well as their bios, handles and verifications.
This means that Meta is becoming a centralized social-media entity, by having a copy of the other social-media apps in its ecosystem.
Instagram is, for instance, battling TikTok with Reels, which focuses on short-form video content. That's the core of TikTok's identity. All this enables Meta to collect a big share of the online advertising market.
