Musk vs Zuckerberg cage fight: Is it actually happening? What’s the latest?

Will billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg fight in a cage? On Sunday, the owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, claimed the bout will be streamed live on the platform. Zuckerberg, meanwhile, posted on his ‘Twitter killer’ app threads that he is ‘ready to go today’. So, what’s happening with the proposed match? And will it actually happen? Let’s take a closer look: What are they saying? Musk on Sunday posted:

Zuck v Musk fight will be live-streamed on 𝕏.

All proceeds will go to charity for veterans.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 6, 2023

Musk said earlier Sunday he was training for the fight by lifting weights “Am lifting weights throughout the day, preparing for the fight. Don’t have time to work out, so I just bring them to work,” Musk wrote. Zuckerberg quickly hit back on his platform threads. “I’m ready today. I suggested Aug 26 when he first challenged, but he hasn’t confirmed. Not holding my breath. I love this sport and will continue competing with people who train no matter what happens here.” “Shouldn’t we use a more reliable platform that can actually raise money for charity?” the Meta CEO added, in a dig at the wave of problems faced by Musk’s platform since he took over last year. While another user asked if they had agreed to stream the bout on X, Zuckerberg sardonically replied “More like ‘funding secured.” Recall that Musk tweeted ‘funding secured’ about taking Tesla private – which ended up getting him sued by investors. Musk, responding to a post on X, predicted that he would ‘probably win’ if the fight is short but that Zuckerberg may prevail ‘on endurance’ if the fight is lengthy. Asked about why the bout was even happening, Musk replied, “It’s a civilized form of war. Men love war."

Musk on Monday also added he was “going with WWE as my fighting style.”

But Musk added a new wrinkle in the tale Musk, responding to a post on X, said the exact date of the bout is still “in flux” as he might need surgery. “I’m getting an MRI of my neck & upper back tomorrow. May require surgery before the fight can happen. Will know this week,” Musk added. According to Bloomberg, Musk has struggled with “mega back pain” for years after a bout with a sumo wrestler. Musk previously mentioned the injury while challenging Russia’s Vladimir Putin to “single combat” over Ukraine. What do we know about the match? The back and forth began when in June Musk, who owns X, responded to a tweet about Meta then preparing to release its Twitter rival Threads. 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. Zuckerberg, the MMA enthusiast, responded to Musk’s initial, seemingly humorous, challenge by replying on Instagram, “Send me location.” [caption id=“attachment_12968182” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Mark Zuckerberg is actually trained in mixed martial arts and has taken part in jiu-jitsu competitions. Screengrab. Twitter/@lexfridman[/caption] Musk proposed the Vegas Octagon.

He then joked about his fighting skills and workout routine, suggesting that the fight may not be serious.

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“I have this great move that I call ‘The Walrus’, where I just lie on top of my opponent & do nothing,” Musk wrote. The exchange sparked a torrent of reactions on social media, as well as prompting a lively round of betting on the potential winner. An endless chain of memes and posts to “choose your fighter” sprang up in response. Whether or not Musk and Zuckerberg actually make it to the Octagon remains to be seen— especially as Musk often tweets about action prematurely or without following through. But unlike Musk, Zuckerberg is actually trained in mixed martial arts and has taken part in jiu-jitsu competitions. The 39-year-old Zuckerberg, with his fighting experience, emerged as the clear favourite despite the decided size advantage of Musk, who more than a decade older at 52. No date has been set for the fight, which – if it does happen – is expected to take place in Las Vegas. Zuckerberg in July told employees he wasn’t sure the fight would happen, as per The Verge. But as per TMZ, Zuckerberg recently installed an Octagon in his backyard. Zuckerberg in June posted a picture of himself training with MMA fighters Israel Adesanya and Alex Volkanovski. “No fugazi with Mark. This is serious business,” Adesanya wrote on Instagram with regard to the potential bout. UFC president Dana White in June told TMZ that Musk and Zuckerberg were “dead serious” about making the bout happen. “The biggest fight of all time was Floyd and Conor, I just think it triples that – it triples what that did, there’s no limit on what that thing can make," White, talking up the potential of the bout, added. Dana quoted Musk as saying he had been in “plenty of fights growing up in South Africa.” “Talked with Mark and Elon last night, both guys are absolutely dead serious about this,” White was quoted as saying. Representatives of X, Meta and Ultimate Fighting Championship, which owns the venue where the fight might take place, didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment. Musk’s mother pours cold water on bout But Musk’s mother Maye has repeatedly written on social media that the fight is not happening. “Actually, I canceled the fight. I haven’t told them yet. But I will continue to say the fight is canceled, just in case…” she posted.

“And now the fight has been canceled. Great relief!”

“No joking,” Maye added. “Fight with words only. In armchairs. 4 feet apart. The funniest person wins.” Musk biographer Walter Isaacson told Insider the chances of such a fight actually happening are nil. “All this talk about going to the Colosseum for a cage match with Mark Zuckerberg, it’s more of a metaphor for his struggle with Meta and Zuckerberg — I don’t know if that will really happen, no,” Isaacson was quoted as saying. “I’ve seen him eat, he’s doing that intermittent fasting,” Isaacson added. “We go to the Palo Alto Creamery, when he can have his one meal, he orders a cheeseburger with bacon, a large sundae, sweet potato fries. He’s not in hyper-training mode, I would say.” “Elon loves the contention, he loves mixing it up with the fights on Twitter, but I think the Meta competitor will cause him to focus on ‘How do I retain the broadest possible user base here,’” Isaacson added. “His greatest fear is if Twitter becomes an echo chamber of one ideology.” But even if their cage match agreement is all a joke, the banter has gained attention. The two tech giants have clashed over the years on issues ranging from politics to artificial intelligence. But the arrival of Threads heightened the pressure on the already troubled Twitter, which Musk rebranded to X last month. Musk bought that social network for $44 billion before announcing massive layoffs and opening the platform up to conspiracy-minded posters, leading several advertisers to turn elsewhere. Musk’s push to stream the video live on X comes as he aims to turn the platform into a “digital town square.” However, his much-publicized Twitter Spaces kickoff event in May with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announcing his run for president struggled with technical glitches and a near half-hour delay. Musk had said the problems were due to “straining” servers because so many people were trying to listen to the audio-only event. But even at their highest, the number of listeners listed topped out at around 420,000, far from the millions of viewers that televised presidential announcements attract. With inputs from agencies