Zuckerberg backs out of cage fight with Elon Musk

The battle of the billionaires was set to take place at an "epic location" in Rome, though an exact date had not been set.

"I think we can all agree Elon isn't serious and it's time to move on," Zuckerberg said via Threads. "I offered a real date. Dana White offered to make this a legit competition for charity."

"Elon won't confirm a date, then says he needs surgery, and now asks to do a practice round in my backyard instead," Zuckerberg continued. "If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official event, he knows how to reach me. Otherwise, time to move on. I'm going to focus on competing with people who take the sport seriously."

Zuckerberg previously stated that he was "not holding [his] breath for Elon," and that he was going to focus on competing against other opponents.

According to text messages obtained by Walter Isaacson, Musk had asked Zuckerberg if he would be open to holding a "practice bout" in the Facebook CEO's backyard in Palo Alto.

Zuckerberg declined and told Musk he should be training independently.

"I don't want to keep hyping something that will never happen," he continued, "so you should either decide you're going to do this and do it soon, or we should move on."

Just last week, Musk announced that he had spoken with the prime minister of Italy and the nation's Minister of Culture, and that they "agreed on an epic location."

He claimed that the fight would be managed by his and Zuckerberg's foundations, not the UFC, and would be live streamed on both X and Meta platforms.

Musk added that an MRI had revealed a problem with his right shoulder blade, and that recovery from the impending surgery "will only take a few months."

Musk has effectively made a public response to Zuckerberg's back out from the fight. On Monday morning, he posted on X, "Knock, knock … challenge accepted … open the door @finkd."

The @finkd Twitter account is owned by Zuckerberg.

The X owner also quipped, "Thought you might want some tea, so I brought the bags."