Mark Zuckerberg isn't shying away from his supposed cage match with Elon Musk, though he wants the world to know it probably isn't going to happen – and it's not his fault.
The billionaire pair have been feuding since June over Zuck's then-rumored launch of Twitter competitor Threads, which was unleashed in July. Musk, you may recall, challenged Zuckerberg to a cage fight that the Meta CEO was ready and willing to accept.
After a month of Musk's dithering, Zuck has been publicly wondering how serious the chief Twit is about the challenge he made.
"I think we can all agree Elon isn't serious and it's time to move on," Zuckerberg said in a Threads post Sunday. He noted that UFC President Dana White had offered to make the bout a legitimate charity match, and pointed to Musk's failure to commit as a reason he thinks its "time to move on [and] focus on competing with people who take the sport seriously."
Musk has also made the excuse that he needs an MRI and possible surgery before the fight.
Don't forget there is probably something else on the SpaceX boss's mind: Zuckerberg can actually fight, having had training in mixed martial arts and competed in public.
Musk suggested on Friday the fight would be managed not by the UFC, but by his and Zuckerberg's foundations. Additionally, the Twitter owner also said that he had spoken to the Italian Prime Minister and Minister of Culture, who he claimed had "agreed on an epic location" for the contest.
If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official event, he knows how to reach me
Many assumed said epic location would be the Colosseum in Rome, a notion culture minister Gennaro Sangiuliano rebuffed in comments to The Guardian Saturday. While admitting that he had been in discussions with Elon, "it will not be held in Rome," Sangiuliano said.
(The Tesla supremo also at one point said he was open to a non-fight fight with Zuck: a simple verbal debate about some topic or other, in other words.)
The same day Sangiuliano spoke to a newspaper, Zuckerberg posted on Threads that he had been ready to battle "since the day Elon challenged me." He noted Musk had still not agreed to an actual date as of Saturday, and that "if he ever [does] … you'll hear it from me."
"Not holding my breath for Elon," Zuck added.
Come Sunday, Zuckerberg appeared to be just as confused by the situation as the rest of us after the absurd affair reached a whole new level.
"Elon won't confirm a date, then says he needs surgery, and now asks to do a practice round in my backyard instead," Zuckerberg sighed on Threads. "If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official event, he knows how to reach me."
For those wondering whether we can trust Zuck's claims that Elon offered him a backyard wrestling match as a consolation prize, don't worry - ol' Elon decided to produce the humiliating receipts himself.
"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. 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," Zuckerberg told Musk, judging from a screenshot of their text messages. Musk's response is all the proof needed to show he's not taking it seriously.
"I will be in Palo Alto on Monday. Let's fight in your Octagon," the world's sometimes richest man challenged.
"I have not been practicing much," Musk admitted, but that apparently won't matter. "While I think it is very unlikely, given our size difference, perhaps you are a modern day Bruce Lee and will somehow win," Musk added.
Neither X nor Tesla responded to questions asking whether Zuckerberg had responded to the texts from Musk, but Elon stepped in again to make it clear that he's still just as serious as we'd all expect.
"For the Tesla FSD test drive in Palo Alto tonight, I will ask the car to drive to [Mark Zuckerberg's] house," Musk tweeted, adding that he plans to live stream his journey on X so we can all monitor his adventure in real time.
"If we get lucky and Zuck … actually answers the door, the fight is on!" ®
Source: The register