Zuckerberg Tears ACL During Martial Arts Sparring Session

Facebook chief and martial arts enthusiast Mark Zuckerberg announced Friday on his Facebook platform that he suffered a torn ACL during a mixed martial arts (MMA) training session and had already undergone surgery to correct the injury.

The injury to his ACL — the anterior cruciate ligament that helps connect the femur to the tibia — occurred during a sparring session in preparation for what he describes as a “competitive MMA fight” scheduled for 2024. Zuckerberg’s post reads:

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 it after I recover. Thanks to everyone for the love and support.

Zuckerberg has been training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for some time and has even won a medal in competition. He took up an interest in the sport early on in the pandemic and shared his recent win on Instagram, stating, “Competed in my first jiu-jitsu tournament and won some medals for the Guerrilla Jiu Jitsu team.”

Earlier this year, Zuckerberg and Elon Musk traded barbs in an ongoing feud after Musk challenged the Facebook boss to a “cage fight.” As recently as August, Musk argued that he may require back surgery, delaying any possible match between the two tech titans. Now, Zuckerberg’s surgery pushes off any possibility of a match between the two billionaires until he has fully recovered.

After Musk warned that he might need an operation before the cage match he himself had proposed, Zuckerberg blasted him as being all talk:

“We can all agree Elon isn’t serious,” Zuckerberg stated, referencing Musk’s reluctance to finalize a date for the match and his suggestion of a mere “practice round” in his backyard. This revelation came to light through shared screenshots of text exchanges between the two tech moguls. In these messages, Musk proposed a “practice bout” at Zuckerberg’s residence, to which Zuckerberg responded, advising Musk to train for a “real MMA fight” and to reach out once he’s “ready to compete.”