Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg has called off his cage fight with fellow tech billionaire Elon Musk, accusing the Tesla CEO of wasting his time.
“I think we can all agree Elon isn’t serious and it’s time to move on,” Zuckerberg said in a post on Threads Sunday night. “Elon won’t confirm a date, then says he needs surgery, and now asks to do a practice round in my backyard instead.”
But Zuckerberg left the door open to a fight in the future, continuing: “If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official event, he knows how to reach me.”
It comes after Musk challenged Zuckerberg to a “cage match” in June, with the two tech billionaires then seemingly making plans to make it happen, reportedly working with Dana White, president of Mixed Martial Arts organization UFC, to set up a charity bout.
But after weeks of trading barbs on their competing social networks — Musk’s X (formerly known as Twitter) and Zuckerberg’s Threads — it seems the fight isn’t happening after all.
That’s not particularly surprising, given Zuckerberg is a skilled jiu-jitsu practitioner who has been hitting the mat hard over the past two months, while Musk has admitted he isn’t exactly fighting fit.
The news the match is off will come as a blow to Rome, after Italy’s Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano said he had a “long and friendly conversation” with Musk about his country hosting the event.
Alas, there won’t be a Melee in Milan or a Fracas in Florence, after all.