Morning Report: Dana White invites Mark Zuckerberg to compete in UFC BJJ

We by no means acquired Mark Zuckerberg vs. Elon Musk within the octagon, however we’d nonetheless get Zuckerberg within the UFC. Type of.

On Wednesday, the UFC begins a knew period of promotion with UFC BJJ 1, it’s first dedicated foray into the world of aggressive grappling. Whereas the UFC has beforehand held Struggle Go Invitational occasions, UFC BJJ 1 will crown champions in three weight lessons — bantamweight, light-weight, and welterweight — and kick begin a full courtroom press to take over grappling prefer it did MMA.

“I feel so,” UFC CEO Dana White advised TMZ Sports when requested if the aim was to make the most important grappling matches doable. “And to teach folks on the game of jiu-jitsu, who these guys are, and to form of set up it. When you concentrate on it, if you already know something about jiu-jitsu, there’s tons of tournaments that go on everywhere in the world, there’s large ones, there’s actual cash concerned, et cetera et cetera.

“We’re gonna are available in and say, ‘You might be thought-about among the best on this planet, however you possibly can come combat one of the best on the UFC and win a world title. You’ll be a world champion, everyone will likely be ranked, and put some construction to it.”

However White envisions UFC BJJ as greater than only a platform for one of the best grapplers on this planet, he’s additionally open to it being a spot to showcase among the largest matches doable with opponents who aren’t essentially world class.

“Let me let you know one thing, there’s numerous different folks on the market, too,” White mentioned. “There’s actors and athletes. You’d be stunned. Zuckerberg has competed in tournaments. Mario Lopez competes in tournaments. Tom Hardy competes in tournaments. It is a spot, anyone might come and compete right here in jiu-jitsu.”

White, famously, tried to placed on an MMA bout between Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, when the 2 had been publicly feuding. In the end, nothing got here from that aside from a T-shirt, however White did find yourself with a spot on the board of Zuckerberg’s firm Meta. As such, White says he and Zuckerberg often discuss fights, and that he’d like to lastly get the Fb founder into the UFC.

“Yeah, we discuss quite a bit about preventing, clearly,” White mentioned. “If Mark retains coaching and competing, he might actually come right here and combat in UFC BJJ. 100%. Tom Hardy, Mario Lopez, and plenty of, many different actors which are actually good jiu-jitsu guys that no person is aware of about.”

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Farewell.

However what concerning the preventing half?

Get effectively quickly.

Congratulations!

Truthfully, the thought of Zuck vs. Elon in MMA was all the time silly. A grappling match makes far more sense. And legitimately could be a reasonably large deal for UFC BJJ to get one thing like that up and construct with.

That is the world we’re in.

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