MMA: Is the fight between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg still on?

The possible mixed martial arts (MMA) cage fight between X (ex-Twitter) and Meta bosses Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, announced at the end of June, could take place on August 26 and be broadcast on the South African billionaire’s platform, according to the two protagonists. «The Zuck(erberg) vs Musk fight will be broadcast live on X», announced Mr Musk on Sunday, specifying that «all proceeds will be donated to organizations helping veterans».

Mark Zuckerberg reacted on his own platform, Threads, which now competes with X, saying he was «ready today. I proposed it on August 26 when he challenged me, but he didn’t respond».

The Meta boss also suggested that the retransmission of the Zuck(erberg) vs Musk fight should take place on «a more reliable platform that can really raise funds» for charities.

Now in direct competition, since the launch of Threads by Meta, which uses the same functionalities as X and has 120 million users since its launch at the beginning of July, according to Quiver Quantitative, Messrs Zuckerberg and Musk have stepped up their more or less acerbic exchanges.

At the end of June, Elon Musk posted on his account “I’m ready for a cage fight”, referring to the cage in which MMA fights take place.

Mark Zuckerberg, himself a martial arts enthusiast who now takes part in jiu-jitsu competitions and posts videos of fights, responded immediately on Instagram with a screenshot of Elon Musk’s message, followed by the words “Send me the location”.

The exchange provoked a flurry of reactions on social networks, as well as bets on the potential winner, with Mark Zuckerberg clearly emerging as the favorite.

The two tech giants have been at loggerheads for years over their opposing views of the world, from politics to artificial intelligence.

But the animosity between them has been ratcheted up a notch with the arrival of a possible direct competitor for Twitter.

Elon Musk bought the social network for $44 billion before making massive layoffs at the company, and reopening the platform to conspiratorial accounts, resulting in a significant loss of advertising revenue.