Elon Musk Says Zuckerberg Fight to Livestream With ‘Epic’ Ancient Rome Background After Chat With Italy PM

The X owner clarified that the cage fight will be managed by his and Zuckerberg’s organizations and not the UFC

Elon Musk attends Heidi Klum's 21st Annual Halloween Party (Photo Credit: Getty Collection)
Elon Musk attends Heidi Klum's 21st Annual Halloween Party (Photo Credit: Getty Collection)

Update: Mark Zuckerberg has responded to Elon Musk’s Italy proposal for their upcoming cage match. The Meta CEO took to Threads to respond, writing, “If he ever agrees on an actual date, you’ll hear it from me.”

Earlier on Friday, Elon Musk posted on X that he had chosen a location for his upcoming cage match with Mark Zuckerberg — “ancient Rome.” The X owner revealed he has already spoken to Italy’s Prime Minister about hosting the fight in “an epic location.”

In the same tweet, Musk also clarified that the fight would be managed by his and Zuckerberg’s organizations and not through the UFC. The livestream of the event will be through both X and Meta, not just X as originally stated.

Zuckerberg has since disputed nearly all of these claims.

“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 wrote.

He also responded to Musk’s knock against UFC, writing, “When I compete, I want to do it in a way that puts a spotlight on the elite athletes at the top of the game. You do that by working with professional orgs like the UFC or ONE to pull this off well and create a great card.”

Zuckerberg once again repeated that he’s “not holding my breath for Elon.”

In his original posts, Musk emphasized that all proceeds from the match would go to veterans and “Everything done will pay respect to the past and present of Italy.” When asked if X Blue or Elon Musk subscribers will get a bonus, such as “behind the scene footage,” Musk answered “Absolutely!”

The tech billionaire also gave an update on his neck and upper back that may impact the standoff. Earlier this week, Musk posted that he “may require surgery” before the fight.

Noting that he spent three hours in an MRI machine on Monday, Musk wrote “my C5/C6 fusion is solid” but “there is a problem with my right shoulder blade rubbing against my ribs, which requires minor surgery.” He then clarified that recovery should “only take a few months.”

TheWrap reached out to X for comment.

Musk and Zuckerberg’s fight started as a joke in June. After an X user brought up Zuckerberg’s interest in jiu jitsu, Musk responded, “I’m up for a cage match if he is lol.”

In the ensuing weeks, that offhand comment has blossomed into one of the oddest stories in tech. When they spoke to him, UFC president Dana White said the two billionaires were “absolutely dead serious” about facing off in a Las Vegas UFC octagon. Zuckerberg even built an octagon on his backyard to train, while Musk posted about bringing weights to the office. Later, Musk said the fight would be live-streamed on X, which Zuckerberg countered with “Shouldn’t we use a more reliable platform that can actually raise money for charity?”

The fight even came up during a recent CNBC interview with X CEO Linda Yaccarino. The CEO confirmed that Musk has been training for it and called it a “great brand sponsorship opportunity.” She also cast doubts on the confrontation, saying, “We’ll see if that cage match really does happen.”

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