Disputes Heat Up Over Billionaire Cage Fight—Here’s Everything We Know

The idea of a cage match was first posed by Musk over Twitter, where the Tesla CEO responded to a thread about Instagram’s then-upcoming rival app Threads, saying, “I’m up for a cage match if he is lol.”

Zuckerberg responded the next day with an Instagram story showing a screenshot of Musk’s tweet captioned “send me location”—a reference to a famous line from former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov (a Meta spokesperson confirmed to The Verge that Zuckerberg was being serious in his response to Musk).

As hype around a potential fight picked up, UFC president Dana White joined in on the anticipation, posting a video of himself sporting a Zuckerberg vs Musk shirt that was made available for purchase on the UFC’s website.

White was quoted in a July 1 story from the New York Times saying he would help organize an exhibition match between the tech CEOs and that they both wanted to fight—with both men agreeing there should be a charity component to the bout.

On July 3, photos of Musk training with UFC legend Georges St. Pierre, mixed martial arts coach John Danaher and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu black belt Lex Fridman surfaced online—with an Instagram post from St. Pierre showing the four men in training gear.

Zuckerberg, who is trained in the grappling combat discipline of Jiu-jitsu, also employed the training services of elite fighting talent in July—made evident by gym photos taken with UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski on July 11.

The two billionaires reinvigorated interest in a potential match in early August, when Musk said he was weightlifting to prepare for the fight, suggesting it would be live-streamed on X—the rebranded Twitter platform—and that all proceeds would go to a charity for veterans.

Zuckerberg responded to Musk’s posts via Threads, asking if a “more reliable platform” should be used for a live-stream of the fight and adding he was “not holding his breath” for a fight to materialize.

Although Zuckerberg has made clear he is ready for a match, the same can’t be said for Musk, who said the date is “still in flux” and he may need surgery before a fight can happen.

Days after calling the idea “in flux,” Musk said the Italian government agreed to an “epic location” for a fight that would be managed by his and Zuckerberg’s respective foundations, not the UFC.

Zuckerberg shot down Musk’s plans, saying, “if he ever agrees on an actual date, you’ll hear it from me,” adding that he’d prefer to work with professional fight promotions such as UFC and ONE.

Just days after Zuckerberg expressed hesitation about Musk’s commitment to the match, the Meta CEO posted on Threads on August 13 “it’s time to move on” because Musk won’t confirm a date, adding Musk said he needs surgery—and months of recovery—before fighting and wanted to do a practice round in Zuckerberg’s backyard.

The same day Zuckerberg announced the desire to move on, Musk posted a screenshot to X of the purported conversation in which he suggested a practice round; Zuckerberg responded over text telling him he should train on his own and say when he’s ready to compete, adding he doesn’t “want to keep hyping something that will never happen.”