Israel Adesanya trains billionaire Mark Zuckerberg ahead ‘cage fight’ with Elon Musk

Israel Adesanya, a mixed martial arts champion, posted pictures of himself working out with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

The South African-born rival Elon Musk and the US billionaire will square off in a cage match. Last month, the pair made their social media fight agreement public.

Their antagonism has intensified after Mr. Zuckerberg introduced the programme Threads as a direct competitor to Mr. Musk’s Twitter.

“We both have South Africans to deal with,” Adesanya quipped on Thursday, along with photos of the duo training together.

In an earlier post, Zuckerberg, whose company owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads, said in the comment section of Adesanya’s post that it was an honour to train with the UFC champion.

Adesanya, 33, who moved to New Zealand from Nigeria as a child, is scheduled to take on South African Dricus du Plessis in a Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight match in September.

Adesanya travelled to Zuckerberg’s residence in northern California on Saturday to start their training sessions, according to media reports.

The date of the fight between Zuckerberg, 39, and Musk, 52, is yet to be confirmed.