Zuckerberg vs. Musk called off: Facebook owner says Elon 'isn't serious' about UFC charity match
13 August 2023, 21:50
Mark Zuckerberg has said he is moving on from a UFC cage fight with Elon Musk, claiming the Tesla founder "isn't serious".
The rival billionaire tech bosses agreed to a brawl in June when Mr Musk tweeted that he was "up for a cage fight".
Mr Zuckerberg, who manages Facebook and Instagram, took a screenshot of Mr Musk's tweet, replying "send me location".
However, on Sunday he said on social media platform Threads: "I think we can all agree Elon isn't serious and it's time to move on.
"I offered a real date. Dana White (UFC boss) offered to make this a legit competition for charity.
"Elon won't confirm a date, then says he needs surgery, and now asks to do a practice round in my backyard instead.
"If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official event, he knows how to reach me. Otherwise, time to move on. I'm going to focus on competing with people who take the sport seriously."
Mr Musk, owner of social media platform X, formerly named Twitter, appeared to suggest the fight would be held in an "epic location" in Italy.
He outlined streaming options and an ancient setting for the proposed event, claiming he had spoken to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Tensions have been high between the two tech billionaires' companies after the launch of Threads, a text-based conversation app, by Mr Zuckerberg's Meta in July.
Twitter sent a cease-and-desist letter to Mr Zuckerberg after the launch, claiming Meta had made "unlawful misappropriation of Twitter's trade secrets and other intellectual property".
Mr Zuckerberg is trained in mixed martial arts, posting about completing his first jiu jitsu tournament earlier this year. Mr Musk said last week he was training for the fight by lifting weights.
He wrote on X: "Don't have time to work out, so I just bring them to work."
