Less than a month ago, Mark Zuckerberg posted a video of himself wearing gloves and shin guards. In a nutshell, the billionaire Facebook founder wore an MMA fight training outfit. Facing him, the fighter from Taiwan, Khai Wu who made his debut a few days later at the UFC. On the post, the wealthy businessman seems rather comfortable in the duel. MMA legend Conor McGregor posted a comment on his video: “Yo! That’s awesome Mark! “. Between great fortunes, we understand each other.
This moment of combat undoubtedly allowed him to forget some setbacks. According to the American media which announced it this week, the boss of Facebook would have lost half of his fortune in less than a year. This went from 131 to 51 billion dollars. Mark Zuckerberg is no longer in the ranking of the ten richest Americans
The CEO of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is therefore a fan of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts). At 38, he is even an assiduous practitioner. It was to take advantage of the incredible spectacle of the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) evening, the biggest MMA league in the world, that Mark Zuckerberg went to Las Vegas on October 1st. In its UFC Apex room entirely dedicated to MMA, the UFC organized a meeting of the same level as the one set up in Paris on September 3.
The UFC-owned UFC Apex, with a capacity of several thousand spectators, should have been packed. Only, there was nobody in the room to attend in particular the main fight of the event, a female assault between the Brazilian Mackenzie Dern and the Chinese Xiaonan Yan. Nobody except… Mark Zuckerberg and his family at the foot of the cage. The rumor immediately left: did the billionaire privatize UFC 61? Possibly.
In any case, the rumor became information in the mouth of Mackenzie Dern who, a few hours before the fight, dropped: “I know that Mark Zuckerberg praised the event. So I know he will be there. The only thing I don’t know is if in the room there will only be him and his wife and if he will be accompanied by a few friends. For him, this evening of fights is therefore just a private party. »
Mackenzie Dern, after his remarks, was quickly reframed by the pundits of the UFC. Nevertheless, has Zuckerberg privatized a popular sports event, perhaps paving the way for a new form of sports consumption: private for the privileged few?
Only certainty, there was therefore no public but no media either in the room to tell it. Dana White, the omnipotent president of the UFC has denied the rumor, but with words that struggle to convince. “Mark Zuckerberg hasn’t booked the UFC Apex, it’s huge bullshit,” claimed White with a banter that characterizes him before explaining the absence of the media for the evening: “We thought you were so busy lately that you’ve been given an evening off. We needed to give you a break, so please! Stay home, order pizza. “A joke that struggles to convince.
