Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have routinely battled one another as the faces of Twitter and Meta, competing mercilessly for eyeballs in today’s attention economy. However, they may soon have the chance to fight for each other’s eyeballs at the famous Colosseum in Rome, Italy.
According to TMZ, the Minister of Culture in Italy reached out to Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Meta, a few days ago and offered up the ancient amphitheater as the venue for a potential cage match between the tech billionaires. Not only would both men reportedly love to fight like ancient gladiators at one of the Seven Wonders of the World, but Zuckerberg’s team has already reached out to UFC President Dana White with the Minister’s contact information to fully flesh out the idea.
Dana White has previously noted that Musk and Zuckerberg are “dead serious” about holding the exhibition fight, with reports that the two have been negotiating with White “multiple times each day for more than a week.” However, holding the match at the Colosseum will be easier said than done. Large events have not been held in the venue for hundreds of years, meaning that the event may have to take place outside the amphitheater as the temporary seating offered inside would only support a few hundred spectators.
Despite these obstacles, it does look likely that the fight will happen. It all started when Elon Musk posted the following comment on Twitter, responding to another user’s tweet urging the owner of the platform to watch what he says about Zuckerberg after he won gold and silver medals at his very first Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournament.
While Zuckerberg’s jiu-jitsu prowess certainly makes him the favorite for this contest, Italian Americans may be rooting for Musk instead after his recent hiring of Linda Yaccarino as CEO of Twitter, who is of Italian descent. Whoever you root for though, let’s keep our fingers crossed that Dana White and the Italian government can work out the logistical challenges of the match to put on a once-in-a-lifetime event in the world’s most famous venue.
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