Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg thought he might have to stop martial arts training after undergoing ACL surgery.
Mark Zuckerberg is an avid UFC fan and martial arts trainee. He’s been at numerous high-profile events over the last year, including UFC 298 in Anaheim last year and a highlight-filled night at UFC 300.
Zuckerberg and UFC CEO Dana White‘s friendship entered a new chapter when the Meta CEO hired White to the company’s Board of Directors. Zuckerberg is also targeting an MMA debut fight after previous talks about facing business magnate Elon Musk stalled.
But after Zuckerberg suffered a torn ACL while sparring at his gym, he thought his inner circle would be completely against the idea of him returning to his MMA training workload. Zuckerberg sat down with his wife to discuss it after undergoing surgery in 2023, and it wasn’t the conversation result he expected.
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Mark Zuckerberg’s wife’s surprising response to recent ACL tear
During a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Zuckerberg shared a hilarious conversation with his wife after undergoing ACL surgery.
“I sat down with Priscilla, and I was expecting her to say ‘You’re an idiot’. But she said ‘When you heal your ACL, you better go back to fighting’,” Zuckerberg said. “‘You’re so much better to be around now that you’re doing this, you have to fight’.
“It definitely takes the edge off things. After a couple of hours of [training MMA[ in the morning, nothing else that day is going to stress you out that much. You just deal with it.”
Zuckerberg earned his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blue belt just before the ACL tear in July 2023, under the tutelage of legendary MMA coach Dave Camarillo. He’s earned multiple BJJ tournament medals during his young training tenure.
Mark Zuckerberg eyes an eventual MMA fight
Zuckerberg co-founded Facebook, the ground-breaking social media platform, in 2004 with several Harvard College classmates. 21 years later, he’s become one of the wealthiest people in the world with vast influence.
Zuckerberg and Musk were in talks to compete in an MMA fight, promoted by White primarily. Musk withdrew from talks due to injury and later criticized Zuckerberg for refusing to reschedule the targeted matchup.
While it remains to be seen if Zuckerberg will eventually fight professionally in the cage, he appears serious about continuing to train in MMA. Luckily, he won’t have to worry about any apprehensions from his wife and family anytime soon.