In one of the more bizarre stories of the week, Elon Musk challenged tech rival Mark Zuckerberg to a cage fight. Zuckerberg promptly accepted, sparking the very real idea that the two tech giants could soon be squaring off.
Furthermore, according to the UFC's Dana White, the two men are "dead serious" about fighting. It's unclear if White is angling to get the UFC involved in the bout. Regardless, White believes the fight could become the most profitable bout ever staged.
There are some issues, however. According to their self-professed weights, Musk sits two to three weight classes higher, per standard MMA class definitions. Either Musk would need to cut or Zuckerberg bulk to make the fight manageable. Despite this, bookmakers currently back Zuckerberg. Per Oddspedia, Zuckerberg holds odds of -333 (Bet $3.33 to win $1.00) while Musk has odds of +220 (win $2.20 per $1.00 bet). Now another controversial figure has entered the story - Andrew Tate.
Tate Offers To Coach Musk
Andrew Tate initially rose to fame as a kickboxer, holding a 73-9 record in his professional career. However, Tate is better known as a male lifestyle influencer. Tate's courses teach men how to make money by shunning women and compassion as evil distractions.
Additionally, Tate is a very vocal anti-vaxxer. This belief is what led him to enter the Musk v Zuck discussions. Tate was banned from all META-owned platforms (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) for spreading COVID misinformation. He has apparently taken this personally, as he has cited it as the primary reason why Tahe wishes to train Musk for the fight against Zuckerberg.
However, this may be somewhat difficult to do, given recent developments in Tate's legal troubles. Romanian officials have officially charged Tate, along with his brother, with rape and human trafficking. Tate has been held on house arrest for several months while prosecutors build a case against him.
Is Musk Diverting Attention Away From Starlink?
While Elon Musk rarely fails to make the news, it's just not just fight offers that have earned him the spotlight in recent months. Stories relating to his many tech companies have also dominated the news in 2023, rarely for positive reasons.
On April 20, the very public launch of SpaceX's "Starship" went horribly wrong as engineers were forced to terminate the 77-minute mission after just 4 minutes. The mission, which was meant to demonstrate Starship's ability to reach a low-Earth orbit, failed due to catastrophic engine failures.
More recently, amid the Titan submersible disaster, people have turned their attention to Musk's wireless communication service, Starlink. Initial reports, based on OceanGate's own social media, suggested that the submersible's communications were powered by Starlink. This has since been debunked. However, it led a number of people to speculate as to whether Musk's fight offer was a way to divert attention away from this theory.