Before the cage match offer, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg privately grumbled about each other, WSJ reported.
Zuckerberg has reportedly been jealous of Musk’s recognition as a tech pioneer.
Musk has sulked over how quickly Zuckerberg became wealthy due to software, WSJ reported.
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Tensions between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg appear to have been simmering for quite some time — long before the two indicated they might be ready to settle their differences in a cage match.
The two men have grumbled about each other publicly and to associates for several years, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
Sources who had heard each man’s gripes told the publication that the Meta CEO had yearned for the public recognition Musk has garnered over the years as a tech pioneer. The Tesla CEO was named as Time’s Person of the Year in 2021 and has received wide recognition for running five different companies, including Tesla and SpaceX. Zuckerberg has also won Time’s Person of the Year — but that was back in 2010, and he has become much less popular in recent years, taking hits in front of Congress and over Facebook scandals.
In 2017, Bloomberg reported that Zuckerberg was “incredulous” after a Facebook poll lumped him in with Bill Gates as a “former innovator” instead of labeling him as a “current innovator” with the likes of Musk and Jeff Bezos.
Meanwhile, Musk has sulked over the fact that the Facebook cofounder was so quick to profit off his software startup while the Tesla CEO focused on building physical products like electric cars and spaceships, people familiar with his comments told the Journal. Zuckerberg became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire on Forbes’ list of billionaires in 2008 at the age of 23. He took Facebook public five years later. It was one of the biggest initial public offerings in the history of tech. In contrast, Musk has said that there were points that both Tesla and SpaceX were on the brink of bankruptcy. He made Forbes’ list of billionaires in 2012, at the age of 41.
The two men have feuded publicly since 2016 when Zuckerberg said he was “deeply disappointed” that a SpaceX launch failure had destroyed a Facebook satellite. Since, Musk has repeatedly dissed Facebook, calling for people to delete the social media app.
Still, the tensions between the two tech CEO reached a boiling point earlier this week, when Musk challenged Zuckerberg to a cage match and the Meta CEO appeared to accept the offer.
The Meta CEO was quick to respond to Musk’s taunt, telling him “Send me location.” To which Musk simply replied “Vegas Octagon,” also known as the Las Vegas’ UFC Apex arena.
It’s unclear whether Musk was joking about the offer to fight the Meta CEO in a cage match, but UFC president Dana White has said he talked to both men on the phone and both sounded serious about the idea. Musk said on Wednesday via Twitter that “If this is real, I will do it,” but later appeared to poke fun at his own fighting skills. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Meta told The Verge that Zuckerberg is serious about the offer to fight.
The match could spell trouble for Musk. Insider’s Hasan Chowdhury reported that his chances of beating Zuckerberg are slim, although Musk does have a height advantage. 39-year-old Zuckerberg has been training in MMA fighting and recently won some medals at a jiu-jitsu competition earlier this year.
Meanwhile, sportsbooks are split on their odds for who would be favored to win, with DraftKings choosing Zuckerberg and Bovada choosing Musk.
Spokespeople for Meta and Tesla did not respond to a request for comment ahead of publication.
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