Mark Zuckerberg said he is “ready to fight” his billionaire rival Elon Musk.
The tech titans have been in a semi-serious war of words since the launch of Zuckerberg’s social network Threads. The new platform is a direct challenge to Musk’s X, the social network formerly known as Twitter.
Musk first challenged Zuckerberg to a “cage match” in June, an offer Zuckerberg swiftly accepted.
“I love this sport and I’ve been ready to fight since the day Elon challenged me. If he ever agrees on an actual date, you’ll hear it from me. Until then, please assume anything he says has not been agreed on,” Zuckerberg said in a Threads post Friday. “Not holding my breath for Elon, but I’ll share details on my next fight when I’m ready.”
Zuck added an image of him sparring in his “backyard octagon” for good measure.
Musk, 52, is more than a decade older than the 39-year-old Zuckerberg and photos suggest is considerably flabbier.
In May, Zuckerberg took home gold in his first amateur Brazilian jiujitsu tournament and — in anticipation of the fight — has taken to posting ripped shirtless images of himself. Musk, for his part, has been training with Brazilian jiujitsu black belt Lex Fridman.
“The fight will be managed by my and Zuck’s foundations (not UFC). Livestream will be on this platform and Meta. Everything in camera frame will be ancient Rome, so nothing modern at all. I spoke to the PM of Italy and Minister of Culture. They have agreed on an epic location,” Musk said Friday.
Gennaro Sangiuliano, the Italian minister of culture, confirmed in a statement he had spoken to Musk about ‘a large charitable and historically evocative event,” Fox Business reported.
Musk said all proceeds from the event would go to veterans and pediatric hospitals and that subscribers to Twitter Blue would receive bonus material.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
