Everything
Last week Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg said that not only was he ready to take Elon Musk up on his challenge to a fight but also had the acorns to suggest a time and place. Seems like Zuck knew what he was doing (calling Musk’s bluff) because it turns out Musk isn’t quite as ready as he made out.
Zuckerberg’s announcement that the fight is a no go comes after Musk made some fairly outrageous claims towards the coming bout. Stuff like he’d been in contact with the PM of Italy and the Minister for Culture and it was going to be set in Ancient Rome.
Okay.
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.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 11, 2023
Turns out that Musk was talking a very different game behind the scenes.
BREAKING: Elon Musk challenged Mark Zuckerberg for a practice match at his house next week. Here's the conversation between the two.
📸 @WalterIsaacson pic.twitter.com/R8O3uGCQ7m
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) August 13, 2023
In his official statement released on Threads (seriously, this is the detail that’s like a twist of the knife that started the entire ridiculousness), Zuckerberg pulled off the PR gloves and basically described Musk as all talk and no action.
“I think we can all agree Elon isn’t serious and it’s time to move on,” wrote the 39-year-old.
“I offered a real date. Dana White offered to make this a legit competition for charity. Elon won’t confirm a date, then says he needs surgery, and now asks to do a practice round in my backyard instead. If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official event, he knows how to reach me. Otherwise, time to move on. I’m going to focus on competing with people who take the sport seriously.”
Perhaps Musk underestimated just how ready his opponent was until he saw Zuckerberg’s videos in training – and winning – his Brazilian jiujitsu comps.
At the end of the day, two blokes having a fight over whose social media platform is bigger has to be one of the dumbest news cycles in recent history. It’s also indicative that being rich has nothing to do with intelligence or character.
