Dana White: Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg ‘dead serious’ about fighting in UFC Octagon
Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are “absolutely dead serious” about fighting each other in the UFC Octagon, according to Dana White.
White told TMZ Sports on Thursday that the tech billionaires’ recent online exchanges are rooted in reality, claiming that he heard so straight from the horses’ mouths.
“I was talking to both Elon and Mark last night. Both guys are absolutely dead serious about this,” the UFC president said. “They both said, ‘Yeah, we’ll do it!'”
On Tuesday, Musk took to Twitter — which he purchased in October 2022 — to respond to a report claiming that Zuckerberg’s Meta — which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — was planning to release a Twitter rival by the name of Threads.
“I’m sure Earth can’t wait to be exclusively under Zuck’s thumb with no other options. At least it will be ‘sane.’ Was worried there for a moment 😅,” Musk replied, prompting a fan to warn, “Better be careful @elonmusk I heard he does the ju jitsu now 😆 🤣 😂 😹 😆 🤣 😂 😹 😆.”
That’s when Musk, 51, responded, “I’m up for a cage match if he is lol.”
Zuckerberg, 39, accepted the challenge via his Instagram Story on Wednesday, sharing a screenshot of the tweet and writing, “Send Me Location.”
White told TMZ Sports that Zuckerberg then reached out to him to find out if Musk was sincere about squaring up.
White said he wasn’t sure and told the Facebook founder that he would touch base with the Tesla tycoon, who apparently informed him he was ready to rumble.
Though the potential event is in its “early stages,” White, 53, said he’s already getting his ducks in a row because his job is to “make fights that people wanna see.”
“I would absolutely positively do this,” he insisted, predicting that “this would be the biggest fight ever in the history of the world — bigger than anything that’s ever been done.”
“You don’t have to be a fight fan to be interested in this fight,” he added. “Everybody would wanna see it.”
White believes the match “would break all pay-per-view records” and make “hundreds of millions of dollars,” which he said both guys would donate to charity.
In fact, he thinks the brawl could “triple” what Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor brought in in August 2017.
Though UFC fights typically cost $80 to watch via pay-per-view, White said he’d “probably” charge “100 bucks” to see Musk vs. Zuckerberg.
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As for the guys’ physical abilities, White said Zuckerberg “trains very hard” and “actually is good at jiu-jitsu” and “stand-up [fighting].”
Musk apparently told White that he not only has experience in martial arts but also got into “plenty of fights growing up in South Africa.”
Over on Twitter, however, Musk is currently cracking jokes about his strength.
“I almost never work out, except for picking up my kids & throwing them in the air,” the father of 10 quipped.
Zuckerberg, for his part, tweeted, “This is going to be fun!”
