Elon Musk as now chosen the Octagon UFC arena in Las Vegas as he plans a cage fight with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META) chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is now ready for a cage fight with Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk. On Wednesday, Zuckerberg posted a screenshot of Musk asking for a cage fight and captioned it “Send Me Location”.
The banter between both billionaires began when International Blockchain Consulting founder and CEO Mario Nawfal tweeted that Meta is working on a Twitter rival called Threads. According to Nawfal, Meta began working on Threads only three months after Musk’s Twitter takeover. Nawfal also said that Meta’s chief product officer called Threads “our response to Twitter”. He added that Meta has “been hearing from creators and public figures who are interested in having a platform that is sanely run”.
In response to Nawful, a user jokingly asked Musk to be careful as Zuckerberg now does Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Musk then replied to this user stating, “I’m up for a cage match if he is lol.” In May, Zuckerberg had posted he competed in his first Jiu-Jitsu tournament and won a few medals.
After Zuckerberg requested a location, Musk tweeted “Vegas Octagon”, referring to the UFC Apex arena in Las Vegas, called the Octagon.
The rivalry between both social media and tech CEOs eventually leading to a physical altercation is unlikely. However, while Zuckerberg is a known aspirational MMA fighter with at least one Jiu-Jitsu belt, Musk is physically larger and has previously referenced “real hardcore street fights” he was involved in while growing up in Pretoria, South Africa’s administrative capital. Musk has admitted that he “got beaten up real badly” in some of these fights.
Zuckerberg and Musk Fight Distracts from Other Problems Both CEOs Are Battling
It is unclear whether or not there is any actual conflict or intellectual fight between Musk and Zuckerberg. Nonetheless, both men lead very busy lives controlling activities at some of the world’s largest companies. Unfortunately, both their positions come with a fair deal of problems that never seem to end.
For instance, Musk is still battling a $258 billion Dogecoin (DOGE) lawsuit accusing him of price manipulation. The lawsuit accused Musk of pumping DOGE with several tweets, and at one point, replacing Twitter’s official blue bird with the DOGE Shiba Inu logo. In addition, the complaint alleges that DOGE spiked 30% in response. Interestingly, a key attorney on Musk’s legal team filed a motion to withdraw from the case.
On the other hand, Meta has been firing staff and announced another round of layoffs in May, affecting about 6,000 people. Between November and May, Meta cut over 20,000 jobs. Zuckerberg also announced Meta was closing 5,000 yet-to-be-announced additional roles.
Also in May, the EU hit Meta Platforms with a record $1.3 billion fine for violating the region’s data protection laws. Regulators in the EU found Meta guilty of illegally transferring user data to the US. In addition to the fine, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) ordered Meta to permanently suspend all further data transfers.
Tolu is a cryptocurrency and blockchain enthusiast based in Lagos. He likes to demystify crypto stories to the bare basics so that anyone anywhere can understand without too much background knowledge.
When he’s not neck-deep in crypto stories, Tolu enjoys music, loves to sing and is an avid movie lover.