Dana White has reopened one of many strangest near-misses in latest struggle historical past: the proposed Elon Musk vs. Mark Zuckerberg matchup. Talking after UFC Vegas 119, the UFC president mentioned the talks have been actual and superior, however one venue demand modified the mathematics in a rush. In line with White, the Colosseum in Rome was the one place that stood in the way in which.
White described the state of affairs in direct phrases. “It’s inconceivable, as a result of negotiating the take care of Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, that was actual,” he mentioned. He added that he was “actually in my yard for 2 weeks negotiating that struggle,” which provides a clearer image of how significantly the UFC handled the concept on the time.
Dana White says the Colosseum price stopped Elon Musk vs. Mark Zuckerberg struggle
The problem, White mentioned, was the venue charge. “The Colosseum needed one thing like $150 million to do it there,” he mentioned, earlier than explaining the place that cash was meant to go. In his telling, the cash would have been positioned right into a fund tied to restoring historic places throughout Italy, which made the ask far totally different from an ordinary web site charge for an enviornment or stadium card.
That determine additionally explains why White framed the venue itself because the deciding issue. “The Colosseum would take Zuckerberg combating Musk to occur, as a result of these two are gonna need to put up the cash for the Colosseum,” he mentioned. He then left the door open for the idea in typical promoter style: “Anyone that wishes to place up the cash for UFC to struggle within the Colosseum, I’m in.”
The Rome angle has been a part of the story for years. In June 2023, TMZ reported that an Italian authorities official had contacted Zuckerberg about staging the struggle on the Colosseum, and that each Zuckerberg and Musk preferred the concept. The identical report mentioned the 2 sides have been negotiating with White every day, whereas sensible points like the dimensions distinction between the 2 tech billionaires remained a part of the dialogue.
TMZ famous in 2023 that enormous occasions haven’t been staged inside the traditional amphitheatre within the fashionable period, and that solely restricted short-term seating can be doable. That makes White’s $150 million determine simpler to know, particularly if the association was tied to preservation funding relatively than an ordinary rental settlement.
Why Musk vs. Zuckerberg by no means reached struggle week, White has now given the best reply accessible. The UFC might negotiate the matchup, the contributors had curiosity, and the setting was well-known sufficient to promote itself. The issue was paying Colosseum cash for a one-off spectacle.
