While the world is busy with AI: Mark Zuckerberg shows off his fighting skills again
This is not what we expected: while the tech world is mainly preoccupied with AI models escaping their test environments, the CEO of Meta uploaded a fight video to Instagram where he faces off against UFC world champion Merab Dvalishvili, who eventually throws him into the lake. The video went viral, garnering more than 24 million views on Instagram within a few hours.
Mark Zuckerberg published a video on Instagram in which he is training in hand-to-hand combat with Merab Dvalishvili, the UFC fighter ranked number 1 in the bantamweight division (up to 61.2 kg), on a rubber surface floating in the middle of a lake. In the video, the two are seen exchanging punches and kicks, and at one point Dvalishvili lifts Zuckerberg by the legs and carries him across the raft.
In the middle of the training, Priscilla Chan, Zuckerberg's wife, passed by in a kayak. Zuckerberg told her that Dvalishvili insisted he take off his shirt to look more like a fighter. The video quickly went viral, garnering more than 24 million views on Instagram within 15 hours.
Dvalishvili, who was born in Georgia and is nicknamed 'The Machine', won the bantamweight championship at UFC 306 in September 2024 after a victory over Sean O'Malley by unanimous decision. In 2025, he defended the title three times before losing it to Petr Yan at UFC 323 in December. He holds the record for the most takedowns in UFC history, with 119.
This is not the first time Zuckerberg has entered the MMA arena, at least in the social media version. He and Dvalishvili first trained together in a gym on December 17, 2025, in an 11-minute session that included grappling and striking, with Aljamain Sterling, the former bantamweight champion, serving as the referee. Zuckerberg also trained with light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira in a session filmed in October 2025.
Now, it remains to be seen if Elon Musk will wake up again and demand the fight we all expected between the owner of Tesla, SpaceX, and X and the owner of Meta. In the past, the two agreed to a fight, but eventually, Zuckerberg claimed that Musk was not serious enough.
