Mark Zuckerberg’s proposed fight with Tesla CEO Elon Musk in 2023 became one of the strangest stories in combat sports, with Dana White taking the idea seriously enough to actively discuss rules, venues, and hold talks with Italian government officials to stage it at the Colosseum. The fight eventually fizzled, but it seems that it wasn’t the only unusual matchup involving the Meta boss that was discussed behind the scenes.

While the world waited to see if the two tycoons would actually fight, renowned BJJ coach Craig Jones was working on something perhaps even more surprising. For the first Craig Jones Invitational, he tried to pair Zuckerberg with Hollywood action star and seasoned BJJ competitor Tom Hardy. In fact, he claims they got surprisingly close to making it happen.

“I don’t know if I’m legally allowed to say this, but we were trying to get Tom Hardy vs. Zuck for CJI 1,” he told Ariel Helwani. “We did come close; we did come very close, very close. I mean pretty damn close. We almost put it together.”

It would have been one of the most bizarre crossover bouts in combat sports history, but neither guy would have been walking in to go one-on-one as a complete beginner. Tom Hardy has been competing in Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournaments for a long time now and even received his brown belt earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Zuckerberg has made a significant investment in the sport, training with top fighters and grapplers such as Israel Adesanya, Alexander Volkanovski, and Max Holloway quite often. Craig Jones believes that is exactly what made the clash so exciting, though he admits the ‘Venom’ star would have been taking a significant risk.

“It’s scary for Tom to face a guy like Zuck because if he loses, it’s hard to be the action star anymore, you know what I mean?” he continued. “But if Zuck went out there and put on a great performance—I mean, he takes the sport very seriously.

“You see he brings guys to train with him all the time and stuff. I think seeing him persevere through some adversity would have been incredible to watch.”

The entire situation surely sounds absurd, but as we said before, the Meta CEO has already come surprisingly close to entering the combat sports realm with his 2023 fight with Elon Musk. After all, Dana White even said that he spoke with both billionaires for about an hour every night about the rules, weight classes, and venue.

But maybe the UFC CEO should leave the idea of booking bizarre bouts to Craig Jones. After all, the BJJ star has always been willing to use unusual matchups to bring attention to grappling. His intergender match versus women’s BJJ great Gabi Garcia in August 2024 became one of the most talked-about events at CJI, and a Zuckerberg-Hardy fight would have elevated that crossover appeal to new heights.

In fact, Craig Jones also revealed that he tried to exploit Zuckerberg’s contacts with UFC fighters to pique his interest in the event. Alexander Volkanovski versus Mikey Musumeci was one of the matches he wanted to put together. But the plan never materialized, but Tom Hardy’s name clearly didn’t disappear from the crossover grappling world.

Tom Hardy also came close to facing Arman Tsarukyan before Mark Zuckerberg

Craig Jones is hardly the only promoter to have tried to book Tom Hardy for a big grappling match. Hype FC also approached the Hollywood actor about competing against top UFC lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan on its December 30 card in Armenia.

“Few people know, but a possible opponent for Arman on December 30th could have been one of the most popular actors of our time, a purple belt in BJJ—Tom Hardy,” the promotion wrote. “But, due to continuous filming of a movie until March, he was busy.”

‘Ahalkalakets’ eventually faced Sharaputdin Magomedov in the main event, and they fought to a draw. However, Hype FC later revealed that the ‘Venom’ star had been considered a possible opponent for the lightweight contender.

The promotion also included what appeared to be a private messaging exchange with Hardy after the offer was made. Even though most of his response was covered up, the visible portion appeared to show the actor praising Hype FC for an offer that was supposedly worth far more than most professional BJJ fighters typically receive. But alas, his filming schedule eventually got in the way.

But this offer means The Dark Knight Rises star has now apparently come fairly close to two entirely insane grappling matches: one against Mark Zuckerberg and another against one of the top lightweights in the UFC. As for Mark Zuckerberg, he eventually found his way into the UFC world without ever having to step inside the Octagon.

Meta has now partnered with the Dana White-led promotion on its new UFC rankings system, which has now replaced traditional media-voted rankings after its launch in June 2026. The new system ranks fighters based on a number of performance metrics and updates automatically each week after events.

So, the Meta CEO still ended up being a part of the UFC’s future. It just happened through algorithms, not a grappling contest with Tom Hardy or Elon Musk.