Conor McGregor dares Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg to go through with UFC fight

Count the world’s biggest MMA star among those intrigued by a potential fight between the world’s most famous billionaires.

If Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are serious about meeting each other in the cage, Conor McGregor would like to see it.

“I’m interested,” McGregor told a group outside the New York Athletic Club (h/t Adam’s Apple YouTube channel). “Are they gonna go ahead with it? Is it gonna happen? If it happens under the UFC banner, I’m with it. It has to happen under the UFC banner, and I’m with it.”

UFC president Dana White is apparently serious about promoting Musk vs. Zuckerberg, expressing his desire to build an entire card around the fight as a pay-per-view headliner. White has gone so far as to show off a UFC-branded “Zuckerberg vs. Musk” T-shirt that the promotion is currently selling on its online store.

The beef between the two tech giants escalated last month just as Zuckerberg – the founder of Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta – prepared to launch Threads, a social media alternative to Twitter, which Musk – the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX – bought out last year for $44 billion. That set off a back-and-forth, resulting in Musk challenging Zuckerberg to a “cage match,” which Zuckerberg promptly accepted.

Since then, both men have shown off photos of their training with UFC champions past and present – Musk with Georges St-Pierre and Zuckerberg with Israel Adesanya and Alexander Volkanovski. If Musk or Zuckerberg wanted pointers from McGregor, the former UFC two-division champion said he’d be willing.

That is, of course, if they’re serious.

“Sure, sure. I’d do a bit of work with them,” McGregor said. “I hope they go ahead with it. Their pockets might be large, but is the talk cheap? They said it. Are they gonna do it now? I’m excited to see how it unfolds.”

McGregor, who turned 35 this week, hasn’t fought since a July 2021 loss to Dustin Poirier. McGregor is expected to fight rival “Ultimate Fighter 31” coach Michael Chandler, although an agreement hasn’t been reached while McGregor remains outside the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency drug-testing pool.