- Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg were in talks to host a ‘cage competition’
- However, it now seems unlikely that the battle will continue
- DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news
Elon Musk has claimed he will take on tech rival Mark Zuckerberg ‘anywhere’ after the Facebook founder appeared to withdraw from the battle last month.
The pair were in talks to stage a ‘cage match’ at the Colosseum in Rome, with UFC chief Dana White even stepping in to help the negotiations.
But after Zuckerberg claimed his focus is now on “competing with people who take the sport seriously,” X (formerly Twitter) owner Musk has come forward with his side of the story.
Speaking about the Joe Rogan experienceMusk said Zuckerberg had reservations about fighting without UFC branding in the Coliseum.
“And then Zuck pulled out. He used the pull-out method,” Musk said, adding that he was willing to fight under UFC rules.
Elon Musk said he would fight tech rival Mark Zuckerberg “anywhere, anytime” this week
Zuckerberg had previously accused Musk of “not being serious,” the Tesla founder said
In text messages leaked to biographer Walter Isaacson in August, Zuckerberg told Musk, “If you still want to do a real MMA fight, just train and let me know when you’re ready to compete.”
Musk told Rogan this week: “He accused me of not being serious. And I said, ‘Listen, at the end of the day, I’ll fight you anywhere, anywhere, under any rules.’
The 52-year-old added: ‘I’m much bigger than him, it’s unfair. I don’t think he should fight me.’
The Tesla founder said he had previous fighting experience, including participating in martial arts as a teenager.
However, he admitted to Zuckerberg in their August text exchange that he “hadn’t practiced much other than a quick fight with Lex Fridman today.”
Zuckerberg, meanwhile, was training with UFC stars Israel Adesanya and Alex Volkanovski earlier this year.
Israel Adesanya (left) and Alexander Volkanovski (right) trained with Mark Zuckerberg
Nevertheless, it doesn’t seem like a fight between Musk and Zuckerberg will happen.
In September, White poured cold water on the potential match. “I’ll never say never, but probably not,” he said on “OutKick The Morning.”
White complained about the costs that not making the fight would entail for a billion dollars, as the proceeds would go to charity.
“Let me tell you who would win in that fight: whatever charities were chosen to donate the money to,” he added.
Musk’s father, Errol Musk, has also said this won’t happen.
“It’s to get publicity for X,” he claimed. “Elon is not pretending, just drawing attention to X.”