Two of the world's foremost middle-aged tech billionaires are threatening to cage-fight each other. And yes, the whole thing is as dumb as it sounds.
The verbal jabs between the two billionaires in question, 51-year-old SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk and 39-year-old Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, began on Tuesday when Musk responded to a tweet about Meta's rumored forthcoming Twitter rival.
"I'm sure Earth can't wait to be exclusively under Zuck's thumb with no other options," Musk tweeted in response to the initial post. And when one user responded that Musk should be "careful" because Zuck "does jiu-jitsu" now, the mercurial billionaire decided to take things up a notch.
"I'm up for a cage match if he is lol," Musk quipped, adding an extremely mature "Zuck my [tongue out emoji]."
Now, you might be thinking: Musk, in his 50s, is clearly acting like a child, so maybe Zucko will step up as the adult in the room and refuse to engage. A fair prediction, considering that these are incredibly busy men who presumably have a lot of better things to do with their time than spar like a pair of kindergarteners.
Zuck, however, couldn't help himself and shared a screenshot of Musk's "cage match" tweet on his Instagram account.
"Send Me Location," Zuck wrote in giant letters across the screenshot.
I’m up for a cage match if he is lol
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 21, 2023
A Meta spokesperson confirmed to The Verge that Zuck's Instagram jab — which is more or less the equivalent of telling somebody to "meet me behind the gym at four" — was not a joke.
"The story speaks for itself," the spokesperson told The Verge.
Musk has yet to make an official statement, although did respond to the Verge's write-up on Twitter.
"Vegas Octagon," Musk tweeted at the Verge, later adding that "I have this great move that I call 'The Walrus,' where I just lie on top of my opponent & do nothing."
If we were to put our sports analyst caps on, The Walrus could be a pretty effective move for Musk. He's older and isn't particularly athletic, even admitting in a Wednesday tweet that "I almost never work out, except for picking up my kids & throwing them in the air."
But at six foot one, he's physically imposing. Zuck, alternatively, stands at a smaller five foot seven, but he's actually a really good and well-trained fighter who's also extremely fit.
In short, it's a bit of a toss-up, but we might side with the Facebook founder on the hand-to-hand combat front. That said, both Musk and Zuck are big sword guys, so other modes of battle could be a different story entirely.
Anyway. It's all pretty silly. That said, a big part of us does want the fight to happen. After all, some ego-bruising could likely do pretty much any Silicon Valley billionaire some good — especially Musk.
More on Zuckerberg's battle skills: Video Emerges of Mark Zuckerberg Getting Beat Down
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