Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg Ultimate Cage Fight: Who Would Win?

When billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg announced their intention to fight each other, many thought it was a publicity stunt good intended to take over Twitter and Facebook for day. But the Tesla founder and Meta boss are reportedly "deadly serious" about fighting each other, and the Vegas Octagon is one potential venue, the Telegraph reported this week.

Both men have been training. Musk has been working out with the MIT researcher and podcaster Lex Fridman, a black belt in jujitsu, who said he was "extremely impressed" with the Twitter chief's "strength, power and skill on the feet and on the ground".   Musk had previously tweeted, "I almost never work out, except for picking up my kids and throwing them in the air." He later claimed to have"this great move that I call 'The Walrus,' where I just lie on top of my opponent and do nothing."

Musk has since admitted: "Although very dated now, I trained in judo, Kyokushin (full contact) and no-rules streetfighting."  Zuckerberg has been training in jujitsu for about a year and recently showed off his physical abilities by doing a Murph challenge—100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 squats, and running a mile before and a mile after. He finished in 39 minutes, 58 seconds, putting himself in the top 1% of competitors.

Fridman, who has also sparred with Zuckerberg in jujitsu, said he's a "long-term friend" of Musk and a recent acquaintance of Zuckerberg and has welcomed both into the world of martial arts. "I do believe there's tremendous value in them practising martial arts, as it will make them better leaders, better human beings and students of human nature," he said before a video of him sparring with Zuckerberg.  He had said he'd prefer not to see them fight each other. "It's really inspiring to see Elon and Mark doing martial arts, but I think the world is served far better if they train martial arts but not fight in the cage," said Fridman. "That said, as Elon says, the most entertaining outcome is the most likely … I'm there for them, no matter what."

Dana White, the president of Ultimate Fighting Championship, told TMZ that the billionaires are "deadly serious" about fighting a cage match and the Vegas Octagon, a mixed martial arts venue, could host it.  Bookies are named Zuckerberg the favorite to win, judging him to be more physically fit. 

There's been tension between Musk and Zuckerberg for years, ever Musk's SpaceX rocket exploded on the ground in 2016 with a Facebook satellite aboard. Musk has recently dissed Zuckerberg's understanding of AI and deleted his company's Facebook pages, saying the company's aggressive expansion "gives him the willies." Next month, Meta is slated to introduce a rival to Twitter, Threads, a discussion function that will be part of Instagram.  The feud boiled over on social media last week, when Musk tweeted, "I'm sure Earth can't wait to be exclusively under Zuck's thumb with no other options." One of Musk's followers replied he'd "better be careful" because of Zuckerberg's jujitsu training.  "I'm up for a cage fight if he is," Musk replied. On Instagram, Zuckerberg wrote: "Send me location."