Elon Musk said on Saturday he will start training if the mixed martial arts (MMA) cage fight he has provoked with fellow billionaire media mogul Mark Zuckerberg takes shape.
Twitter owner Musk tweeted on Tuesday he was up for a cage match in Las Vegas with Zuckerberg, chief executive of Facebook parent Meta, who has trained in jiu-jitsu.
“I haven’t started training yet. So if this does happen, I will,” Musk said in a talk on Twitter with Ashlee Vance, the author of a book on Musk and the space race.
The match “might actually happen” said Musk while attending a birthday party in Europe, adding it was possible that it could go badly if Zuckerberg takes the match seriously.
Musk also said SpaceX has made well over 1,000 changes to Starship following the vehicle’s first test launch in April, which failed to reach orbit. Space Exploration Technologies Corporation has changed how the vehicle operates on its path to orbit and it now stands a much improved chance of success with its second attempt, according to its chief executive officer.
“So I think the probability of the next flight working – or getting to orbit – is much higher than the last one,” Musk said. “Maybe it’s like 60 per cent; it depends on how well we do at stage separation,” he said on a Twitter Spaces on Saturday with Bloomberg senior reporter Ashlee Vance.
Investment in the Starship project is likely to approach US$3 billion this year, Musk said. Starship is SpaceX’s next-generation rocket, designed to carry cargo – and eventually people – to deep space destinations such as the moon and Mars.
Musk announced that SpaceX has “made a sort of late breaking change” to the way that Starship separates during launch, when the large Super Heavy booster breaks free from the Starship spacecraft mid-flight. He noted that SpaceX has decided to do hot staging, a process where the engines on the Starship vehicle ignite while the Super Heavy booster is still attached.
“This is something that the Soviets and Russians have used in their space designs,” he said.
During Starship’s first test flight, which launched from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, US the rocket successfully cleared its launch pad, but suffered multiple engine failures during the vehicle’s climb.
When Starship was meant to separate from Super Heavy, the two vehicles remained attached as the entire rocket spun out of control. SpaceX was forced to activate the rocket’s flight termination system, which blew up the rocket.
Musk was pressed on whether his commitment to space exploration has wavered in light of his acquisition of Twitter.
“We’re trying to get to Mars as fast as possible,” he said.
Musk declined to discuss several topics broached by Vance, including the status of his recently created artificial intelligence company that might rival OpenAI.
He also said it would be “illegal” to talk about plans for a possible initial public offering for Starlink, SpaceX’s constellation of satellites that provide high-speed internet access in remote areas.
Dana White, president of Ultimate Fighting Championship, said Thursday that he had spoken with the two billionaires to gauge their interest in a high-stakes showdown inside the Vegas Octagon, where his company stages mixed martial arts fights.
The idea for a physical fight between two of the world’s richest men gained traction after Tesla CEO Musk, who acquired Twitter for $44 billion last year, responded to a tweet suggesting that Meta Platforms, the company run by Zuckerberg, was developing a rival service.
“I’m up for a cage match if he is,” Musk said. To which Zuckerberg replied via Instagram, which is owned by Meta, with the primitive phrase: “Send Me Location.”
A spokesperson for Meta said in a statement that the story “speaks for itself.” And things took off from there.
On Saturday, Musk confirmed that the proposed cage match “might actually happen.”
During a Twitter Spaces conversation with Bloomberg senior reporter Ashlee Vance, the 51-year-old Twitter owner admitted he had not started training but is ready.
“I spend my time according to what is needed,” Musk said. “I don’t usually have to fight people.”
Andrew Tate, the controversial social media personality and former professional kickboxer currently facing charges of rape and human trafficking in Romania, volunteered to get Musk into fighting shape. In a tweet directed at the Twitter owner, Tate said, “I will train you. You will not lose.”
Zuckerberg, 39, boasts extensive training in mixed martial arts. Last month, he successfully competed in his first Brazilian jiujitsu tournament in Woodside, securing victory over an Uber engineer and earning two medals.
Oddsmakers favor Zuckerberg in the potential cage match.
“Zuckerberg is 12 years younger and has taken part in an intensive challenge in which he ran a mile, completed 100 pull-ups, 200 press-ups, and 300 squats, before running a further mile, all while wearing a 9kg weighted vest,” Johnny Avello, director of race and sports operations of the sportsbook DraftKings, said in a statement.
White predicts that the proposed fight would draw even more attention than the Conor McGregor versus Floyd Mayweather match of 2017, which generated $600 million in revenue. According to White, the pay-per-view cost for watching the tech moguls’ brawl inside the Vegas Octagon could reach $100, surpassing the standard fee of $80.
The UFC president anticipates the event generating more than a record-breaking $1 billion in revenue.
“I don’t think either one of them needs the money,” White said, suggesting the money go to a charitable organization.
White did not conjecture whether the fight would really take place. “If these guys are serious, I make fights that people want to see,” he said. “That’s what I do for a living.”
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