Mark Zuckerberg could ‘surprise’ people with MMA ability, says Alex Volkanovski, ahead of potential fight vs. Elon Musk
- Mark Zuckerberg could fight tech rival Elon Musk in the near future
- And the Meta chief is taking his preparations extremely seriously
- DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news
Mark Zuckerberg is training to potentially fight tech rival Elon Musk – and he has a ringing endorsement from at least one pro fighter.
Zuckerberg recently trained with UFC Featherweight Champion Alex Volkanovski, and the Aussie has been impressed with the Meta founder’s ability.
‘I guarantee you, you guys would be very surprised,’ he told TMZ.
‘I’m telling you he’s serious. I don’t know how serious Elon is, but I’m telling you, he’s training!’
While there is no confirmation or set date of a fight between Zuckerberg and Musk, the possibility was raised earlier this month as Meta prepared to rollout ‘Threads’ to rival Musk’s Twitter.
Zuckerberg trained with UFC champions Israel Adesanya (L) & Alex Volkanovski, Tuesday
Zuckerberg (seen competing in Brazilian jiu jitsu) and Volkanovski are said to be close friends
Alexander Volkanovski prepares for his fight against Yair Rodriguez in Las Vegas on July 8
It all started when Musk, who owns Twitter, responded to a tweet about Meta reportedly preparing to release the new website.’ He took a dig about the world becoming ‘exclusively under Zuck’s thumb with no other options’ – but then one Twitter user jokingly warned Musk of Zuckerberg’s jiu jitsu training.
‘I´m up for a cage match if he is lol,’ Musk wrote late Tuesday.
Zuckerberg soon responded – and appeared to agree to Musk’s proposal, writing ‘send me location.’
And when an impressively ripped Zuckerberg appeared in a photo after training with Volkanovski and two-time UFC Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, it was clear that he was taking fighting for real.
‘I mean you can see it that he’s in shape but he really is in shape,’ Volkanovski said. ‘It’s not just looks, he really is, mate. He trains, he’s pretty athletic, he’s coordinated and he’s committed.’
If a fight between Zuckerberg and Musk were to go ahead, it appears there would be huge interest.
In a side-by-side comparison, Elon Musk has a size advantage, but is 11 years older
UFC president Dana White, who expects to promote a Musk-Zuckerberg bout, said he would charge as much as $100 as opposed to the standard $80 UFC PPV price.
‘It would break all pay-per-view records,’ White told TMZ.
‘These guys would raise, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars for charity and, you know, you don’t have to be a big fight fan to be interested in this fight. Everybody would want to see it.’
Conor McGregor would also be intrigued by the fight.
In a clip exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com from reporter Adam Glyn, the 35-year-old was asked about the potential bout.
‘I’m interested,’ McGregor said. ‘Are they gonna go ahead with it? Are they gonna make it happen?
Zuckerberg (left) and Musk (right) are both serious about fighting, Dana White says
Musk (R) had a grueling training session with Georges St Pierre (red shorts) earlier in July
‘If it happens under the UFC banner, I’m with it. It has to happen under the UFC banner.’
Both the Meta founder and the Twitter chief have received offers from other UFC stars to help them train.
Musk has received offers from other high-profile mixed martial artists, such as Jorge Masvidal, Dominick Cruz, and Georges St-Pierre.
He admitted that he needs ‘a lot more training’ after a few grueling sessions with St. Pierre, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest fighters in MMA history.
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