In ancient times, gladiators—the lowest caste of Roman society, often men with little to no status—would fight in arenas for the amusement of the patrician class.
2,000 years later, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and X owner Elon Musk have spent much of this year considering an inversion of this concept. The two social media barons—both of whom have reportedly trained in martial arts—have publicly bandied about fighting each other, with UFC president Dana White going so far as to propose a potential match in the Colosseum.
Zuckerberg, however, implied Sunday on Threads that the idea was dead in the water.
“I think we can all agree Elon isn’t serious and it’s time to move on. I offered a real date. Dana White 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,” Zuckerberg wrote. “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.”
Musk—a lightning rod for controversy since he acquired Twitter for $44 billion in 2022—implied Friday that the fight would happen, but stated that he would need minor surgery first.
Zuckerberg, competing for the first time in Brazilian jiu-jitsu this spring, won a pair of medals at a California tournament.
