Musk asserts Zuckerberg declined the Colosseum combat

In response, the co-founder of Facebook stated that his Twitter rival is “not serious” about the anticipated fight.

According to Elon Musk, owner of X (previously Twitter), Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has withdrawn from the highly anticipated clash of the billionaires at Rome’s fabled Colosseum.

Musk claimed on Twitter that Zuckerberg ‘declined’ to fight him in his backyard practise ring after the Roman amphitheatre was suggested as the venue for the charity match last week.

“I proposed using his house as a “safe space.” Tragically, he was ahem, ‘travelling,’” Musk said, implying that his rival had made up the justification to leave the cage bout.

In a post to Meta’s Twitter clone Threads on Sunday, Zuckerberg had already called Musk “not serious” and said it was “time to move on.” Elon refuses to set a date, then claims to need surgery and requests to play a practise round in his backyard instead, he lamented.

The Meta CEO did, however, leave the door open for his X Corp counterpart, saying, “If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official event, he knows how to reach me.” For the time being, Zuckerberg promised to “focus on competing with people who take the sport seriously.”

Musk reacted by referring to Zuckerberg as a “chicken.”

The CEO of SpaceX and Tesla last week hinted that the fight he challenged Mark Zuckerberg to in June will take place at the Colosseum while claiming that the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano were on board, though he made no specific reference of either official. He tweeted that the fight’s theme would be “Ancient Rome.”

On Friday, Sangiuliano acknowledged having spoken with Musk about holding the battle in Italy as a charitable event.

The billionaires had agreed to live stream the event on both of their platforms, with a portion of the proceeds going to a veterans charity, but they couldn’t agree on a time. Musk said he might need back surgery before facing off against his fellow tech billionaire just days before revealing the location in Rome.

The would-be rival is said to have declined to confirm Zuckerberg’s suggested date of August 26.

After more than a year of practise, Zuckerberg earned a blue belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu last month. He has suggested he wants to face a real professional mixed martial artist next, and UFC president Dana White told TMZ that “he is serious about fighting in the UFC.” With the exception of duelling with fellow tech personality Lex Fridman, Musk admitted to Zuckerberg in a recent text message that he had “not been practising much.”