Mark Zuckerberg, who recently lost a reported $30 billion in net worth due to his insistence that Meta, the company he founded after Facebook ran afoul of – well, everyone – pivot its focus on the still-not-real-and-never-will-be “multiverse,” has enraged a whole new audience. Congrats, Mark, MMA fans, media, and (some) fighters hate you, too!
Over the weekend, the UFC held an event at its Apex center near Las Vegas, Nevada. The Apex is a small venue that opened in 2019, just in time for the UFC to continue hosting events without audiences as the COVID-19 pandemic body slammed the entire globe into submission. It can seat up to 1,000 people, but the UFC has yet to sell out the Apex for a UFC event.
So what does that have to do with Mark Zuckerberg? The latest event held at the Apex, UFC Vegas 61 (colloquially known as a “Fight Night” event as it’s not a proper pay-per-view card) headlined by a women’s strawweight bout between Mackenzie Dern and Xiaonan Yan, had no media in attendance because Mark Zuckerberg allegedly “rented the place out” (according to Mackenzie Dern) just so he could watch an MMA fight without critical-thinking humans near him.
Humans don’t like Mark Zuckerberg. Because Mark Zuckerberg is Mark Zuckerberg. Mark Zuckerberg knows humans dislike him and may want to fight him. This might also be why Mark Zuckerberg is training in “MMA” which actually means one of the (still) wealthiest men on the planet is paying people to let him punch, kick, and wrestle them while they say “wow, good job, Mark, you’re doing an MMA!” to elicit what Mark’s brain understands to be the human emotion of joy.
If you’re wondering why Mark Zuckerberg is training “MMA,” it’s likely due to his annual software update wherein ZuckOS learns a new skill. One year Mark Zuckerberg didn’t eat meat unless he’d killed the animal himself. One year he learned Chinese (reportedly to be able to converse with his wife’s side of the family better, which is cool, really). This year it seems like MMA is his thing.
Now, let’s be fair to Mark. He didn’t buy the place out for a private MMA show, he just asked the UFC to not have media there aside from its broadcast partner, ESPN. The Apex has never had a large crowd, but we should safely assume Zuckerberg’s people vetted the attendance list ahead of time.
UFC President Dana White denounced Dern’s take Zuckerberg “rented the place out” for a semi-private showing but has been mum about dismissing media to accommodate his famous octagon-side guest. We’re not sure what media was set to attend the event, but it’s unlikely any media would have had access to Zuckerberg. It just seems like Zuckerberg was flexing his status and wealth to get the UFC to provide him a “safe space” to watch MMA.
White also paints Zuckerberg as a newbie fanboy, adding Priscilla Chan’s (Zuckerberg’s wife) favorite fighter is Mackenzie Dern. Perhaps true, Chan’s reactions don’t suggest she enjoyed the fights much:
Zuck’s wife 😂😂 #UFCVegas61 #ufcfightnight #mmatwitter pic.twitter.com/5gnITVAsHm
— Bz (@breezygoblue) October 2, 2022
Zuck’s attendance didn’t go over well with fighters:
The best part about the ufc events live is the crowd going nutso like stay home bro wtf
— Al Iaquinta🗽 (@ALIAQUINTA) October 2, 2022
Yes, who of us hasn’t bought out an entire arena to watch athletes bludgeon themselves while we can’t be bothered to be among the unwashed masses?
I’d say for most of us the lap of luxury involves buying brown mustard. https://t.co/nfxK0WhjaJ— Nathan Quarry (@NateRockQuarry) October 2, 2022
All told, it’s a bad look for both the UFC and Mark Zuckerberg. Fortunately, neither Zuckerberg nor the UFC cares what anyone has to say, so the MMA media can continue to dunk on both unchecked. Game on, Zuckerberg. Game. On.
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