Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, left, and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
File photo: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, left, and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Image Credit: AP

San Francisco: Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg on Sunday traded barbs at each other before their upcoming cage fight at an epic location in Italy, with the Tesla CEO challenging Meta Founder to fight in his backyard on Monday.

Musk posted a chat with Zuckerberg on X (formerly Twitter), saying he will be in Palo Alto (California) on Monday and offered to fight on Zuckerberg's “Octagon”.

Zuckerberg apparently messaged Musk: “If you still want to do a real MMA fight, then you should train on your own and let me know when you're ready to compete”.

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

Musk replied: “1 have not been practicing much, apart from a brief bout with Lex Fridman today. While I think it is very unlikely, given our size difference, perhaps you are a modern day Bruce Lee and will somehow win”.

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American author-journalist Walter Isaacson first posted that Musk is asking Zuckerberg to fight at his home in Palo Alto, California.

In a tweet, Isaacson who has been the President and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan policy studies organisation, said: “I got this text message from Elon Musk at 4:44am CT showing a screenshot of some text messages in which he tells Zuckerberg they should fight this Monday at Zuckerberg’s home in Palo Alto”.

Zuckerberg later posted on Threads that “I think we can all agree Elon isn't serious and it's time to move on”.

“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,” said the Meta Founder.

“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 added.

Meta Founder and CEO earlier said he was "not holding his breath" for Musk to agree to a fight date.

Musk had said he has been in contact with the Italian prime minister and minister of culture about hosting the event.

However, Zuckerberg said no date has been agreed.

Zuckerberg, 39, holds a blue belt in jiu-jitsu and recently won gold and silver medals in a tournament.