- Mark Zuckerberg just posted a shirtless photo of himself training with two MMA legends.
- What started as Twitter jabs have turned into rumors of a cage fight between Zuck and Elon Musk.
Need more evidence that Mark Zuckerberg has been feeling himself lately?
Look no further than his Instagram account:
Yes, that is a chiseled Zuck pictured in between two of the most successful modern MMA fighters of this generation: Israel Adesanya is shown to his left, while Alex Volkanovski stands at his right — demonstrating that Meta's CEO is recruiting some high-level training partners of his own.
"No fugazi with Mark. This is serious business," Adesanya captioned the three-slide post, alluding to the chatter of a potential cage fight between him and Elon Musk.
The move to recruit Adesanya and Volkanovski arrives as Musk accepted a former UFC legend's open invitation to train over Twitter.
George St-Pierre confirmed that he "had a great training session" with Musk on a tweet sent out on July 3.
Shortly thereafter, Threads, Zuckerberg's text-based social media platform and Twitter competitor launched, which led to more trash talk from Musk's side, including a challenge to a "dick-measuring contest."
Zuckerberg showcasing how cut he's become is just the latest step forward in what seems to be a never-ending cycle of online posturing.
But the tech billionaire could also be feeling good about himself because Threads managed to hit 100 million sign-ups in its first 5 days, surpassing even ChatGPT's growth rate.
A Meta spokesperson declined to comment to Insider on the picture or the cage fight chatter.
Whether a fight actually happens — Dana White, the president of the UFC, is on the record as willing to help set up a pay-per-view event for it — is beyond the point. Both men get to indulge in some testosterone-fueled publicity that focuses on their physiques, rather than the products that they create.
For what it's worth, Musk's biographer does not think there is any world where the Tesla CEO actually fights Zuckerberg, suggesting that this public feud is a way for the two to air out their grievances, betting lines be damned.