MMA fight between Musk and Zuckerberg set to take place in 'epic venue'

A fight that is becoming clearer. On Twitter (recently rebranded as X), billionaire Elon Musk gave some more details about his upcoming MMA (mixed martial arts) clash against Meta Group CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “Everything in the frame of the camera will be like in the time of ancient Rome, so nothing modern,” Elon Musk announced in a tweet published this Friday, before continuing: “I spoke to the Italian Prime Minister and to the Minister of Culture, they agreed on an epic venue.”

While the two tech moguls haven't released any further details on the venue, one thing is certain for now: "The fight will be streamed live on X and Meta's social media channels," the boss said. of Tesla and Space X. Also announcing that the whole meeting would be organized jointly by the foundations of the two billionaires and not by the UFC, the American organization of mixed martial arts. In the comments, subscribers to the paid formula Twitter Blue (now Xblue or Blue), have already asked Elon Musk if they would benefit from advantages, such as the possibility of discovering the backstage of the fight. “Absolutely,” replied tit for tat the main interested party, without developing so far.

The Italian Minister of Culture, for his part, said he was discussing with Elon Musk to make the fight a “great charity event evoking history”, according to a press release published on Friday and relayed by AFP. "It will not be organized in Rome," added Gennaro Sangiuliano, thus ruling out the possibility of a game at the Colosseum, as the boss of Tesla had mentioned at the end of June. The sum that could be raised by the event, estimated at “several million euros, will be donated to two Italian hospitals for children”, added the minister.

At the origin of this fight, a tense exchange between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg last June. Through social networks, the two men railed against each other and threatened to come to blows. The rivalry is far from new between the two bosses, who have opposing views of the world or of artificial intelligence. But it has gone up a notch since the takeover of Twitter (X) by the boss of Tesla last October. Mark Zuckerberg saw it as the ideal niche to launch his own competing platform and capitalize on the setbacks that the social network has been going through since. A project on which he has never failed to communicate, triggering the ire of Elon Musk.

Named Threads, this alternative was finally deployed in around forty countries on July 5, triggering new verbal attacks between the two bosses. Elon Musk notably accuses his competitor of having voluntarily recruited several of his former employees and of stealing his trade secrets to develop Threads. "Competition is good, cheating is not," he wrote on his Twitter account (X).

And if, since then, the craze around Threads has died down, the social network having only 8 million daily active visitors, Elon Musk said he was ready to settle his differences with Mark Zuckerberg in “a cage”. Bets are already raging on social media as to which of the two billionaires is more likely to claim victory. Most rely on the CEO of Meta, known to participate in jiu-jitsu competitions of which he regularly posts videos on his own networks.