A modern-day gladiator bout could take place at Rome’s Colosseum between billionaire tech bosses Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, according to a report.
An Italian government official reportedly offered up the 2,000-year-old venue as a battleground for the historic cage fight between the Twitter owner and Facebook founder a few days ago.
The Minister of Culture is said to have reached out to Zuckerberg about staging the head-to-head at the landmark, which is one of the seven wonders of the world.
In what became a viral back-and-forth, Musk tweeted on June 20 bragging that he was ‘up for a cage match if he is’, to which the Meta boss responded on Instagram ‘send me the location’.
Now the tech tycoons may have come to an agreement on where to stage the clash, with TMZ Sports reporting that both would love for it to go down at the Colosseum.
While Italian media reports that the government has denied offering up the venue, Musk has added to the speculation this morning, tweeting: ‘Some chance fight happens in Colosseum’.
An Italian government official reportedly offered up the 2,000-year-old venue as a battleground for the historic cage fight (file image)
The Italian Minister of Culture is said to have reached out to Mark Zuckerberg. Pictured: Zuckerberg competing in a tournament
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, issued the challenge via Twitter on June 20, but there is yet to be confirmation that it is going ahead
TMZ reported that Zuckerberg’s team passed on the message to Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White, whose people contacted the Italian Minister.
However, it is uncertain whether the fight is still on, with Mr Musk’s 75-year-old mother, Maye, declaring that she is very much against the idea of her son getting hurt in the ring.
She took to Twitter this week to share her opposition to the matchup and told people not to encourage it and said she ‘canceled the fight.’
While both men have trained in different forms of fighting, there has yet to be confirmation that the spectacle has been scheduled.
‘Don’t encourage this match!’, Maye wrote in response to podcaster Lex Fridman who seemed to take joy in the proposed fight between the two billionaires last Thursday.
In another tweet, she wrote: ‘Actually, I canceled the fight. I haven’t told them yet. But I will continue to say the fight is canceled, just in case…’
Elon Musk’s mother is worried for her son’s safety and told people ‘don’t encourage this match’ between him and Mark Zuckerberg before joking that it was canceled
Musk, pictured sumo wrestling, challenged the Meta CEO to a cage fight on June 20 and he responded the next day asking him to ‘send me location’
The following day, Maye suggested an alternative to the physical bout, a proposal that only involved words.
‘A verbal fight only,’ she suggested. ‘Three questions each. The funniest answers win. Who agrees?’
Musk, 51, is by far the richer of the two and is both heavier and taller than Zuckerberg, 39, but the Meta founder poses a serious threat, due to his keen passion for Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Musk, 51, is by far the richer of the two and is both heavier and taller than Zuckerberg, 39, but he poses a serious threat, due to his keen passion for Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Pictured: Zuckerberg competing in a tournament in Redwood City, California on May 6
Musk suggested the fight with Zuckerberg on June 20 in a tweet and said: ‘I’m up for a cage match if he is lol.’
The Facebook founder, who has enjoyed recent success in a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament, seemed to agree the following day.
He shared an Instagram story with a screenshot of Musk’s tweet and wrote ‘Send Me Location’ which is a catchphrase associated with MMA fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov.
If that location does indeed turn out to be the amphitheatre, it would be the first time in hundreds of years that a fight has been staged at the historic arena.
In its heyday, the 50,000-capacity stadium regularly saw fights to the death between gladiators – but now its ruins could only host a few hundred people and it holds concerts instead of battles.