Mark Zuckerberg hasn’t competed in an MMA fight yet, but he just experienced a natural part of that world.
The Facebook co-founder and CEO revealed via Instagram on Friday that he underwent surgery to replace a torn ACL sustained while training for a competitive MMA fight scheduled for early next year. The bout, in which the opponent is unknown, has obviously been delayed.
Zuckerberg’s full caption:
“Tore my ACL sparring and just got out of surgery to replace it. Grateful for the doctors and team taking care of me. I was training for a competitive MMA fight early next year, but now that’s delayed a bit. Still looking forward to doing it after I recover. Thanks to everyone for the love and support.”
The 39-year-old Zuckerberg has made no secret of his interest in mixed martial arts in recent years. He competed in his first Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournament in May, winning the no-gi white belt and taking silver in gi in the 149-pound division at BJJ Tour Silicon Valley. He was promoted to blue belt in July.
His trainer, Dave Camarillo, counts a number of UFC fighters among his pupils and had high praise for the billionaire while speaking with ESPN:
“He’s amazing,” Camarillo said of Zuckerberg. “He is an extremely hard worker, as everybody knows. But a lot of people have a business and they’re successful and they have that side of their life, and rarely do they dip into the physical side, especially with something like jiu-jitsu and MMA, and have the same amount of success or even go past Day 1 or Month 1. He’s not that kind of guy. I think he has a good balance between what he does with his business and what he does in the physical realm. And he excels. He’s one of the best students I’ve ever had.”
Zuckerberg has also trained with UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski and former UFC middleweight champ Israel Adesanya.
Most casual observers will be aware of Zuckerberg’s MMA interest because of his back-and-forth with fellow billionaire Elon Musk and their stated interest in staging the world’s biggest fight by combined net worth. That possibility, which could have been staged at the Coliseum in Rome, appears to still be on ice for now, with each side faulting the other.
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