ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong has offered to host Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk in the battle of the tech billionaires.
Twitter owner Musk tweeted on Friday night that he had spoken to Italian authorities about hosting their fight at the Colosseum in Rome, and that it would be organised by the two bigwigs’ foundations. He said he needed “a few months” to heal a shoulder injury, however, after an MRI revealed damage.
But Meta chief Zuckerberg responded on Threads, his own new social media platform, that he would only agree to the fight if it was hosted by martial arts organisations ONE Championship or the UFC, both of whom he has close ties to.
Chatri was quick to respond to Zuckerberg’s post, writing: “Let’s do it, Mark! Or we could do a co-promotion to make it truly the biggest fighting event in history. My vote would be ONE vs UFC as main card, me vs Dana [White, UFC president] as co-main, and you vs Elon as main event.”
Speaking to the Post on Saturday, Chatri said he would “love” to host the fight in ONE.
“For sure, someone is going to sleep in this fight,” he said. “As I have always said, I am ready to do ONE versus UFC anytime.
“If Mark and Elon want to fight in the Colosseum in Italy, my team and I would love to make it happen.”
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Chatri trained with Zuckerberg at his house in April, while ONE flyweight submission grappling champion Mikey Musumeci also spent time rolling with the Meta chief in June.
“For sure, Elon has the size and strength advantage in this fight. However, there is a wide disparity in skill level and fitness level,” the ONE boss added.
“I have also trained with Mark. He invited me to train together at his house when I was in the US earlier this year. As a Renzo Gracie brown belt who trains hard five to six times a week, I was very impressed.
“Even though Mark is only two years into his journey as a martial artist, his progress has been much faster because he trains in a very serious, world-class training environment under professor Dave Camarillo.
“Mark might be new, but he thinks about the fight game the right way, be it learning, training, or competing.
“He is a legit blue belt in jiu-jitsu. Mark and I have made plans to train again when I am back in the US. I look forward to training again with Mark and his team.”
Asked for a prediction on the potential fight, Chatri stressed that Zuckerberg is “a real martial artist” and that his skills and knowledge would prevail over size and strength.
“The martial arts community is small. Consensus from folks who have trained with either or both men is that Mark is way ahead of Elon in terms of technical abilities, fitness, training regimen, etc,” Chatri said.
“I could be wrong, but my gut is that Elon is bluffing that he wants to fight Zuck. If he really wanted to fight Mark, he wouldn’t be making up all these conditions, excuses, and stipulations.
“Elon is doing bicep curls at the office while Mark is fighting people in his backyard cage.”
