Mark Zuckerberg says he still has to compete in a real fight “at some point,” and the Meta CEO made clear in a newly surfaced clip that the promotion does not have to be the UFC. The comments are the most committed statement he has made about his combat sports ambitions since an ACL tear paused his training.
“I’d love to do a competition,” Zuckerberg said. “I mean, whether it’s UFC or something else.”
The clip, shared on X (clip shared by @cptdankkk), has Zuckerberg framing the goal around competition rather than spectacle. He explained that he had a plan in motion before the injury knocked it sideways.
“I wanted to do a competitive fight for a while and I was training for it when I got injured,” he said.
Zuckerberg Still Wants The Competitive Test
Zuckerberg tore his ACL while sparring in 2023 and later said he underwent surgery. As covered previously, the injury sidelined his fight plans but did not erase the interest.
He told the camera the goal is still on his list, and that a real fight changes how he trains.
“I mean, I still have to do it at some point,” Zuckerberg said. “The thrill of competing is it’s just such a rush and I think it also focuses your training and makes it so that you learn more in a way that you’re just like a little more casual and laid back about it if you don’t have a goal that you’re going towards.”
Zuckerberg is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu blue belt who has trained under Dave Camarillo, and he has logged sessions with serious names in the sport. He is not a professional fighter, and at 42 a standard UFC debut against a rostered opponent is not a realistic ask. A grappling match or a carefully built attraction bout would make far more sense for any promoter who tried to turn the interview talk into a booking.
The UFC Door Stays Cracked
The UFC angle is the obvious one. Dana White has publicly backed Zuckerberg’s training for years, and the two have a business relationship that runs through the UFC’s partnership with Meta. White’s connection to Zuckerberg deepened further when he joined Meta’s board of directors.
None of that puts a fight on the calendar. It does mean Zuckerberg has not set the idea down, and with his training history and the UFC’s expanding Meta relationship, the door is still open enough for everyone to look through it.