UFC President Arranges... Behind-the-Scenes Coordination Underway
Agreement on Charity Event... "Donations Will Be Enormous"
Reports have emerged that a mixed martial arts (MMA) showdown between Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, and Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms, is becoming a reality.
The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 1st (local time) that “behind-the-scenes negotiations are actively underway to arrange a real fight between the two CEOs, facilitated by Dana White, president of the MMA organization UFC.”
The MMA fight controversy between Musk and Zuckerberg began on June 22 on social media (SNS). A Twitter user asked Musk, the major shareholder of Twitter, “Will Meta’s new social media ‘Threads’ become a rival to Twitter?” Musk responded mockingly, “I’m scared to death,” which sparked the exchange.
When another user warned, “Zuckerberg does jiu-jitsu, so be careful,” Musk replied, “I’m ready to fight.” Zuckerberg then responded on social media, “Send me your location,” to which Musk answered, “Las Vegas Octagon (MMA arena).”
Following this, Dana White contacted both billionaires separately to arrange the fight. White told the NYT, “On the 27th of last month, I spoke with both of them until 12:45 a.m. They both want the fight.”
Multiple sources told the NYT, “White has been negotiating with Musk and Zuckerberg over the past ten days. While there is no guarantee the fight will actually happen, the general outline of the event is taking a concrete form.”
White explained, “If it happens, it will be in the form of an exhibition match, and UFC will not officially oversee it.”
Musk and Zuckerberg have agreed that the event should be charitable in nature, and Las Vegas is reportedly their preferred location. However, holding a fight in Las Vegas requires approval from the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
U.S. financial media CNBC predicted, “If Musk and Zuckerberg fight in the UFC’s octagonal cage, the Octagon, pay-per-view (PPV) fees could be $100 (about 130,000 KRW), and total revenue could reach $1 billion (about 1.3 trillion KRW).” This would surpass the scale of the biggest fight in combat sports history, the 2017 bout between Floyd Mayweather (boxing) and Conor McGregor (MMA).
In an interview with TMZ Sports on the 22nd, White anticipated, “Since neither of them is fighting for money, the donation amount will be huge.”
Regarding predictions of the fight’s outcome, Zuckerberg is considered to have an advantage due to being 13 years younger and having trained in jiu-jitsu for the past 18 months, but some believe Musk’s much larger physique gives him the upper hand. Musk rarely exercises regularly but recently revealed he has been practicing judo and Kyokushin karate.
The NYT reported, “Zuckerberg’s friends and aides generally support the fight, but some close associates oppose it, calling it a waste of time.” However, Musk’s mother opposes the actual fight, saying, “Don’t encourage this fight.”
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