Facebook founder and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is not a computer nerd and ‘could beat the s*** out of you’, according to UFC president Dana White.
Zuckerberg, 41, has undergone a radical rebrand since his early portrayal as a socially awkward genius in 2010 film, The Social Network, charting the rise of Facebook in which he was played by Jesse Eisenberg.
The 5ft 7in billionaire regularly trains in MMA and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, earning his blue belt, and there was even talk of a money-spinning fight against tech nemesis Elon Musk, 54, that White was happy to promote.
The UFC head honcho has been impressed by Zuckerberg’s skill and athleticism.
‘He trains in MMA, he surfs, he does all this s***. Zuckerberg will beat the s*** out of you,’ White said on The Skinny Confidential podcast.
‘Everybody thinks he’s some computer nerd, Mark Zuckerberg will beat the living s*** out of you. All these guys that talk stuff about him on the internet, he’ll kick their a**.’
Dana White (left) says Mark Zuckerberg could ‘beat the s***’ out of most people
Meta CEO Zuckerberg was promoted to blue belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu in 2023
‘The moral of this story is all you telephone tough guys and internet tough guys that talk s*** about Mark Zuckerberg — Zuckerberg will beat the s*** out of every one of you,’ White said. ‘Just for the record.’
White went on to speak about how much enjoyment he took in the brief window of time when Zuckerberg vs Musk looked as though it could really happen.
‘That whole thing was fascinating,’ White said. ‘A fun moment in my career… promoting the Elon-Zuckerberg fight and trying to put that thing together was a lot of fun, too.’
Zuckerberg, worth an estimated £164bn, has competed in grappling tournaments and regularly shared training sessions with some of the UFC’s biggest stars, the latest of which was Alex Pereira.
The Meta billionaire claimed a gold and silver medal in his first first Brazilian jiu-jitsu competition in 2023.
He has trained under Dave Camarillo, the former head Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach for the American Kickboxing Academy, and Camarillo had enormous praise for his student.
‘He’s amazing,’ Camarillo told ESPN. ‘He is an extremely hard worker, as everybody knows. But a lot of people have a business and they’re successful and they have that side of their life, and rarely do they dip into the physical side, especially with something like jiu-jitsu and MMA, and have the same amount of success or even go past Day 1 or Month 1.
‘He’s not that kind of guy. I think he has a good balance between what he does with his business and what he does in the physical realm.
Zuckerberg previously trained with UFC champions Israel Adesanya and Alex Volkanovski
Zuckerberg and White pose for a picture octagon-side at the UFC Apex Arena back in 2022
‘And he excels. He’s one of the best students I’ve ever had.’
The prospective fight between Zuckerberg and Musk was called off by the former after he said he felt his opponent was not serious.
But he has explained to Joe Rogan that he wants at least one competitive MMA fight before going back to Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Zuckerberg is no stranger to big UFC events and was even part of Alexander Volkanovski’s team walking him to the octagon at UFC 298.
He’s been seen at other fights in the front row alongside White and was a regular at the intimate Apex venue initially used during Covid to hold contests while restrictions were in place.
Whether he will step into the cage for a bout himself remains to be seen but no doubt there would be massive interest around it and a willingness from the UFC president to play host.
