The possibility of a mixed martial arts bout between Mark
Zuckerberg and Elon Musk has generated a fair amount of attention —
both from the mainstream audience and the mixed martial arts
community.
Advertisement
Recently, One
Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong shared his thoughts on how a
fight between the two billionaires might look.
“I normally don’t like to get involved in other people’s spats, but
I am compelled to say something on the latest development of the
potential fight between Mark Zuckerberg vs Elon Musk,” Sityodtong
wrote on Facebook. “A few hours ago, Elon said that he was planning
to show up to Mark’s house to fight him. Elon is one of the
greatest entrepreneurs in history and I have a lot of respect for
his guts, accomplishments, and intellect. However, I dislike
bullying of any kind.
“First, Elon genuinely knows nothing about fighting or martial arts
despite his claims to the contrary. As a lifelong expert martial
artist who has been in my fair share of scraps, I can tell simply
by the way he is acting. The problem with most men who have never
fought and/or trained seriously in martial arts is exactly what
Elon is doing. They have a false sense of bravado and no
understanding or appreciation for what technical skills and
knowledge can do in a fight. A legit blue belt in jiu-jitsu is very
dangerous to someone who knows nothing.”
While UFC president Dana White expressed legitimate interest in
putting together the fight between Zuckerberg and Musk, the Tesla
founder balked at that notion, instead pointing toward a bout in
Rome. Musk also said he would need to delay the date of the fight
due to surgery. As a result, Zuckerberg said he was
moving on from the fight “to focus on competing with people who
take the sport seriously.”
From Sityodtong’s perspective, it’s clear that Musk is not truly
interested in setting up an MMA fight. He also points out that
Zuckerberg is already far more accomplished as a martial artist
than his would-be foe, which is why he favors the Meta founder
should the bout come to fruition.
“As CEO of the world’s largest martial arts organization and
someone involved in the fight game as my life, I know when people
want to fight or not,” Sityodtong wrote. “When people want to
fight, they accept a fight and simply show up. When people don’t
want to fight, they do exactly what Elon has been doing. They make
up excuses, conditions, and reasons for avoiding the fight. Elon
has made up puzzling excuse after excuse, be it the need for
surgery, the need to do it in the Coliseum in Italy, the idea of
doing it through his and Mark’s foundations, the idea of a backyard
practice run, etc.
“The global martial arts community is small. Consensus from people
who have trained with Mark and/or Elon is that there is a large gap
in skills in favor of Mark. Mark might be new to martial arts, but
he is a real martial artist. He is a legit blue belt in jiu-jitsu
under Dave Camarillo and consistently trains hard multiple times a
week. Professor Dave is genuinely one of the finest black belts on
the planet and his knowledge of both jiu-jitsu and mixed martial
arts is unparalleled.
“I trained with Mark at his house a few months ago together with
his teammates under Professor Dave. As a brown belt under Renzo
Gracie, I can tell you that the training environment was truly
world-class with utmost seriousness and intensity. Mark might be
only 2 years into his journey as a martial artist, but he has fully
adopted the warrior way of life. In my expert opinion, Mark will
likely choke Elon unconscious in a fight. Elon could win by a lucky
punch due to his size and weight. He’s 186cm and weighs 100kg. Mark
is 171cm and weighs 70kg. However, Mark is in fighting shape and
Elon is not. Mark has the gas tank for 3 rounds and Elon has the
gas tank for 3 minutes.
“As all martial artists know, skill often trumps size when there is
a large disparity in skill. I am not saying that Mark will win
100%. A fight is a fight. Elon could get lucky. What I am saying
though is that Mark has a very high probability of winning.”