In a parallel universe, a battle of the titans would be taking place on Saturday, August 26: Elon Musk (1.86 meters, about 90 kilos) versus Mark Zuckerberg (1.72 meters, 70 kilos). The two fighters – and a combined pot of more than $300 billion – would be brought together in a mixed martial arts (MMA) cage for a charity match. It was also intended to "settle" the personal conflict between the two multi-billionaires and heads of rival social media platforms, which has been rekindled since the July 6 launch of Threads, designed by Instagram to rival X (formerly Twitter).
But this historically unique battle is unlikely to take place. Zuckerberg claims to have suggested the August 26 date as early as the beginning of the summer, after taking Musk's provocation in June at his word: "I'm ready for a cage fight lol," the CEO of X, Tesla and SpaceX had written on his social media platform. "Send me location," Zuckerberg then replied on his platform Instagram, in reference to a well-known anecdote from the feud between MMA champions Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor.
This reaction took everyone by surprise: The press, which had to get confirmation from Meta that Zuckerberg was serious; the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the world's leading MMA organization, which was quick to get involved and try to organize the match; and Musk himself, who clearly didn't expect a response.
Unlike Musk, Zuckerberg is not accustomed to provocations on social media. In his nearly 15 years at the helm of Facebook, and then Meta, he has largely limited his online posts to professional messages, family photos and a few vacation pictures. More recently, he had begun documenting his enthusiasm for Brazilian jiu-jitsu on his Instagram account.
Over the summer, Musk stepped up his announcements and taunts to build anticipation around the duel, staging an "impromptu training session" of judo with his friend Lex Fridman, posing with former UFC champion George Saint-Pierre, calling Zuckerberg a "cuck" in early July and offering to replace the fight with a "dick-measuring contest." He also publicly proposed staging the fight in grandiose venues, including Rome's Colosseum, suggesting that the far-right government of Giorgia Meloni, whom he had met in June, had already agreed. The Italian minister of culture subsequently denied it.
But, at the same time, Musk actually kept backing off. Although he is taller and heavier than Zuckerberg – in a classic competition, they would be three weight classes apart – all the bookmakers were betting on a victory for the Meta CEO. Younger and very athletic, Zuckerberg has made a remarkable debut in Brazilian jiu-jitsu competition and does intensive MMA training.
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