Overview
- White confirmed late Sunday that he spent about two weeks negotiating a potential MMA match between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg and described those talks as real and personal, saying he negotiated 'in my backyard.'
- He said the Roman Colosseum asked for roughly $150 million to host the event and that the money would go into a fund for restoring Italy’s historic sites, which he identified as the decisive barrier to staging the fight there.
- Mark Zuckerberg has publicly said Elon Musk 'isn’t serious' about the bout, creating a credibility gap that compounded the venue and funding obstacles.
- White said he would run a Colosseum show if a backer covered the cost, but he described the matchup as effectively fizzled and said it is unlikely to happen without new funding or renewed commitment from the principals.
- The episode fits UFC’s recent strategy of staging landmark one-off cards like the Sphere and the White House and highlights the Colosseum’s strict preservation rules and earlier, mixed 2023 reporting about official Italian involvement that leave some details contested.