Elon Musk vs. Mark Zuckerberg Fight

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Overview

Elon Musk vs. Mark Zuckerberg Fight, commonly referred to as Musk vs. Zuck, is a possible cage match between tech billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, which was suggested by Musk and accepted by Zuckerberg in June 2023 after the idea was put forward on social media. The rumored fight between the two high-profile individuals resulted in viral discourse, memes and media coverage as word spread online.

Background

On June 20th, 2023, Twitter user @MarioNawfal tweeted^[1] about Meta, the technology company founded and headed by Mark Zuckerberg, planning to release a Twitter rival called Threads. In the thread, tech billionaire Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, seemingly proposed a cage fight with Zuckerberg after being prompted to do so by user @kwmarkoff26656.^[2] The tweet received over 510 retweets and 5,900 likes in one day.

On June 21st, Mark Zuckerberg then posted^[3] a screenshot of Musk's tweet in his Instagram story, captioning it "Send me location", possibly in reference to a catchphrase coined by UFC and MMA fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Developments

On June 21st, 2023, The Verge^[4] editor Alex Heath received a confirmation that Zuckerberg's message was serious from a Meta spokesperson. The tweet^[5] (shown below) received over 3,000 retweets and 25,200 likes in less than a day.

Later on June 21st, Elon Musk then wrote^[6] "Vegas Octagon" in a reply to Heath's tweet, meaning The Octagon at the UFC APEX center in Enterprise, Nevada (tweet shown below).

Elon Musk's Mother "Cancels" the Fight

On June 22nd, 2023, Elon Musk's mother Maye Musk wrote that she "cancelled" the fight on Twitter.^[10] The tweet (shown below) gained over 800 retweets and 11,700 likes in five days.

On June 23rd, Sportsmanor posted^[11] an article based on Maye Musk's tweets, writing that Elon Musk's mother had pulled the plug on the potential fight.

On June 26th, 2023, Twitter^[12] user @JetsenSunday posted a snippet of the article, commenting, "Elon is like 'I would totally kick your ass in a no rules streetfight, but my mom said no'." The tweet (shown below, left) received over 8,000 retweets and 63,000 likes in one day.

Musk And Zuck Attempt To Arrange A Date

On August 6th, 2023, Musk announced via a post to X that the upcoming fight would be live-streamed on the platform and proceeds would go to charity (seen below left).^[13] However, Musk did not name a specific date for the fight. Other posts from the same weekend showed Musk claiming both that he was lifting weights and that he might need back or neck surgery (seen below right).^[14]

For his part, Mark Zuckerberg sparred verbally with Musk on Threads, stating that X might not be "reliable" enough to livestream the video of the fight and that while he was set on August 26th as a date, Musk had been noncommittal (seen below left).^[15] Zuckerberg mentioned Musk's old funding secured tweet, in which he had appeared to overpromise on his ability to take Tesla public (seen below right).^[16]

Online Reactions

After Musk's challenge appeared to be accepted by Zuckerberg, the possibility of a fight between the two tech billionaires became a subject of viral discussions and memes on Twitter.

For example, on June 21st, 2023, Twitter^[7] user @seyitaylor posted photographs of Mark Zuckerberg during a jiu-jitsu match and shirtless Elon Musk in Mykonos, commenting "choose your fighter." The tweet (shown below, left) received over 90 retweets and 430 likes in one day. On June 22nd, Twitter^[8] user @SocDoneLeft made a tweet predicting Zuckerberg's victory, which received over 270 retweets and 9,800 likes in one day (shown below, right).

Dana White Interview

On June 22nd, 2023, UFC President Dana White was interviewed by TMZ Live^[9] about the potential cage match between Zuckerberg and Musk, telling the outlet that he "talked with Mark and Elon last night, both guys are absolutely dead serious about this."

The interview was then uploaded to the TMZSports YouTube channel later that day, receiving over 61,000 views and 1,500 likes in roughly 24 hours (shown below).