The proposed mixed martial arts contest between business titans, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, will no longer involve the Ultimate Fighting Championship, according to the Tesla CEO.
In a series of posts on X, Musk doubled down on Sunday’s announcement, promising that his social media platform would livestream the event. However, he added that it could also be viewed on Zuckerberg’s platform, Meta.
Despite being heavily courted by UFC President Dana White to host the fight, and even wearing a “Zuckerberg vs Musk” shirt while explaining that it wasn’t a gimmick fight, the tweet began with Musk removing the world leader in MMA from the discussion. Instead, it will be “managed” by his and Zuckerberg’s respective foundations and will take place in Italy.
The news was met with positive feedback from some of the UFC’s rivals in the fight world. Jake Paul, who has been engaged in a public back-and-forth with White for some time, mocked the t-shirts and pledged his help in putting the event together.
Bellator executive Danny Brenner offered the services of the Viacom-owned MMA promotion, along with a photo taken at Rome’s Colosseum, while standing next to Fedor Emelianenko, whom the UFC unsuccessfully tried to sign several times.
Surprisingly, the UFC’s biggest superstar, Conor McGregor, joined in the celebration in a since-deleted tweet.
“I could not be less interested in this. I am so happy that the UFC will not be involved,” the former two-division champion said.
Zuckerberg responded to Musk’s comments on Friday afternoon and refuted his opponent’s claims.
“I love this sport and I’ve been ready to fight since the day Elon challenged me,” Zuckerberg wrote via his Threads platform. “If he ever agrees on an actual date, you’ll hear it from me. Until then, please assume anything he says has not been agreed on.”
The Meta CEO, who recently earned his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blue belt, is still open to competing in the UFC’s Octagon, singling out the company or the Singapore-based promotion ONE Championship “to pull this off well and create a great card.”
White, nor any other UFC officials, have commented on Musk’s statement. At the time of this report, The Zuckerberg vs. Musk t-shirts are no longer available on the UFC online store.
