Mark Zuckerberg responds to Elon Musk’s fight offer after texts between them are ‘leaked’

It really is hard to keep up with the ongoing feud between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, which looked set to be settled through a cage fight.

Imagine saying that this time last year.

What many of us thought started out as parody seemed to get a lot more serious when Musk tweeted he was 'up for a cage fight' with fellow billionaire Zuckerberg.

The Meta boss then responded: "Send me location."

UFC president Dana White previously confirmed that the head honchos of the two biggest social media giants were 'serious' about a bout, with the hope it could take place later this year.

If an MMA Showdown was to go ahead, then it would likely generate over $1 billion (£787 million), according to White.

Musk himself even confirmed Meta will live-stream the fight, as the country of Italy was mentioned as a possible location.

However, the fight doesn't seem as close to being sealed as we may all think, as alleged text messages between Musk and Zuckerberg appear to show they are on the opposite sides of the spectrum when it comes to making it happen.

Samantha Burkardt/Getty Images for SXSW

The alleged text messages were 'leaked' by US author Walter Isaacson, who recently wrote a biography on Musk which is set to hit store shelves next month.

In the apparent text messages, Zuckerberg responded angrily to a message sent by Musk for a practice bout at the Meta chief's recently-built Octagon at his mansion in Palo Alto.

Zuckerberg apparently wrote: "If you still want to do a real MMA fight, then you should train on your own and let me know when you're ready to compete.

"I don't want to keep hyping something that will never happen, so you should either decide you're going to do this and do it soon, or we should move on."

Musk allegedly replied: "I have not been practicing much, apart from a brief bout with Lex Fridman today.

"While I think it is very unlikely, given our size difference, perhaps you are a modern day Bruce Lee and will somehow win."

Twitter/@WalterIsaacson

Well, Zuckerberg took to Threads following the 'leak' and seemed to directly address the text messages.

In a post to his newly created app, he wrote: "I think we can all agree Elon isn't serious and it's time to move on. I offered a real date. Dana White offered to make this a legit competition for charity.

"Elon won't confirm a date, then says he needs surgery, and now asks to do a practice round in my backyard instead. If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official event, he knows how to reach me.

"Otherwise, time to move on. I'm going to focus on competing with people who take the sport seriously."

Surely this saga ends shortly?