Meta vs Tesla in MMA? Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg nearly gave the world its most bizarre billionaire showdown. It had all the makings of a spectacle, UFC CEO Dana White was on board and Zuckerberg was already rolling on the mats with UFC champions.

But like so many hyped fights before, this one collapsed before the opening bell. Yet, the ghost of this clash still lingers. On a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience (JRE), Rogan and his crew revisited the Musk-Zuckerberg saga, unpacking what could have been!

Elon Musk warned about Mark Zuckerberg’s “jiu-jitsu” by Joe Rogan and former UFC champion  

During the JRE Fight Companion on February 8, 2025, comedian Bryan Callen couldn’t hide his excitement when talking about Mark Zuckerberg’s recent transformation. He confessed, “But this is Zuckerberg 2.0, and I love it.”

The once-geeky tech mogul has been surprising the internet with his dedication to combat sports, competing in jiu-jitsu tournaments and training with UFC fighters like Israel Adesanya and Max Holloway.

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As such, Rogan who noticed the change too, shared, “He’s doing testosterone, he’s doing jiu-jitsu, I don’t know if he’s doing test, I hope he’s doing test. But he certainly looks a lot thicker when he came in, I was laughing at him like, your neck looks bigger, look at your neck.”

The podcast host then shared how “hard work physically” leads to more appreciation of the “masculine aspects of life”. So how would this version of Zuckerberg fare against Elon Musk?

Well, according to former UFC champion Matt Serra, “I tell you right now, if he fought Elon Musk and Elon Musk is sleeping on the jiu-jitsu… Coz sometimes when you hear Elon Musk talking about the fighting you’re like oh s—-, stick to the f— rockets buddy.”

An interesting perspective, considering the fact that Mark Zuckerberg’s MMA training is well documented. So, how close were we to witnessing a super fight that would have probably broken the internet had it happened? According to UFC CEO Dana White, closer than people might think!

Dana White reveals what went wrong with setting up Musk vs Zuckerberg at the Colosseum  

The legendary Roman Colosseum buzzing with anticipation for a billionaire brawl? If that sounds too good to be true, it almost happened. UFC boss Dana White, a man who has orchestrated some of the biggest fights in combat sports, found himself in the middle of the Mark Zuckerberg vs Elon Musk fight negotiations.

Speaking to Tucker Carlson, White confessed, “[Musk vs. Zuckerberg] was real, I was in the middle of it and I had a blast doing the negotiations with that thing.”

He then described having nightly calls with both men, hashing out details about the rules, the weight classes, and most astonishingly, the venue. According to White, “I was literally doing conference calls with the government in Italy to do this thing in the Colosseum in Rome. For the right number, the Colosseum was gonna let us do that fight there. Eventually it started to fall apart, but while it lasted it was fun.”

But as history often reminds us, grand plans rarely unfold as expected. However, if you ask Elon Musk, it wasn’t logistics that killed the fight, it was the Meta CEO. How? In a conversation with Joe Rogan, Musk revealed, “Zuck pulled out… He accused me of not being serious, at the end of the day I will fight you any place, anywhere, under any rules.”

Though the fight has seemingly faded into obscurity, the rivalry hasn’t completely disappeared. As recently as January 2025, Zuckerberg expressed interest in facing Musk, but both men have since taken on even bigger responsibilities. Musk has been pulled into government affairs, while Zuckerberg remains at the helm of Meta, with Dana White now onboard too.

Could the fight ever be revived? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!