Following reports of Meta planning a new product that would be the “answer to Twitter” — and more “sanely managed” as one insider put it — Twitter’s owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk challenged the rival company’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, to a Mixed Martial Arts “cage match”.
Having won two or three bouts in his competitive debut in Brazilian jiu jitsu in May, the Zuck picked up the gauntlet. With Musk proposing that the match take place in Las Vegas, all that remains to be decided is the date.
Observers may make jokes about the fragile egos of billionaires, but the match could be just the distraction that Musk and Zuckerberg need from troubles like tougher Big Tech regulation and disinformation laws, the plunging reputations of their companies and badly-judged recent investments.
Musk’s $44 billion for Twitter is a gamble that hasn’t quite paid off — the company is now reportedly worth a third of what it was worth when he bought it and is saddled with $13 billion of debt. Zuckerberg too is haunted by his bet on the ill-fated Metaverse, into which he has pumped over $30 billion.
Assuming the proposed fight does take place, the question on everyone’s mind is this: Who will win? Punters are split between Zuckerberg, who has honed his mat skills over the last 18 months, and Musk who, at a little over 6 ft, is physically much bigger than Zuckerberg.
Those in his corner believe that all he needs to do is lie down on his opponent — a strategy that Musk seems to be considering, given his tweet on the subject: “I have this great move that I call ‘The Walrus’, where I lie on top of my opponent and do nothing.” If not a display of great skills, at the very least, the Zuck vs the Walrus match promises to be entertaining.
