cage fighter
Twitter owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Facebook parent Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg may meet in Las Vegas for a high-profile "cage match."

The two billionaires have been exchanging barbs on social media throughout the past week, over Zuckerberg's plans to launch a Twitter rival. The tete-a-tete began with Musk's reply to a tweet from Mario Nawfal from International Blockchain Consulting on June 20, who wrote "META to Release 'Twitter Rival' Called THREADS."

Threads will reportedly be a standalone, text-based social network app that Meta plans to launch through Instagram to challenge Twitter.

Musk responded to the tweet with: "I'm sure Earth can't wait to be exclusively under Zuck's thumb with no other options. At least it will be 'sane.' Was worried there for a moment."

A user then warned Musk, tweeting: "better be careful @elonmusk I heard [Zuckerberg] does the jiu jitsu now," to which the Twitter CEO replied with a challenge: "I'm up for a cage match if he is lol."

Late on Wednesday, June 21, Zuckerberg posted a screenshot of Musk's challenge on his Instagram stories with a caption "send me location."

In what looks like Musk's response to Zuckerberg's location request, the Twitter CEO on Thursday tweeted "Vegas Octagon," referring to a famed Las Vegas arena that hosts UFC fights. Musk went on to taunt his would-be opponent, tweeting "I have this great move that I call 'The Walrus', where I just lie on top of my opponent & do nothing." He then added "I almost never work out, except for picking up my kids & throwing them in the air."

The back-and-forth between the two billionaires garnered much attention on social media, with many either cheering Zuckerberg or advising Musk to start training and reminding him of his opponent's fighting skills. Zuckerberg reportedly has a white belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, having trained under Dave Camarillo, a judo and jiu-jitsu black belt who has worked with a number of UFC champions.

Commenting on the news, a Meta spokesperson told the Verge news outlet that "the story speaks for itself." However, there is currently no official confirmation from either Zuckerberg or Musk on whether a fight will in fact take place.