"Tech Titans Clash: Musk vs. Zuckerberg in the Ultimate Battle Royale!"

Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, two of the most well-known technology billionaires in the world, have agreed to square off in a cage match.

Mr. Musk declared that he was "up for a cage fight" with Mr. Zuckerberg in a statement on the social media site Twitter.

A screenshot of Mr. Musk's tweet with the message "send me location" was subsequently tweeted by Mr. Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook and Instagram parent firm Meta.

A spokeswoman for Meta told the BBC that "the story speaks for itself."

The comment from Mr. Zuckerberg was then met with Mr. Musk's response, "Vegas Octagon."

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fights take place on a competition mat inside of a fenced-in arena called The Octagon. Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, the UFC.

Later this month, Mr. Musk, who will be 52, also tweeted: "I have this great move that I call "The Walrus," where I just lie on top of my opponent and do nothing."

Later, he posted a few walrus videos, maybe indicating that his challenge to Zuckerberg wasn't totally taken seriously.

In the meantime, Mr. Zuckerberg, 39, has been practising mixed martial arts (MMA) and has lately triumphed in jiu-jitsu competitions.

The BBC approached Twitter for comment but received no response.

He also tweeted: "I almost never work out, except for picking up my kids & throwing them in the air."

The debate over who would win the fight has gone widespread on social media, with fans posting memes and spoof advertisements for the match.

Seyi Taylor, a business consultant, tweeted, for instance, "Choose your fighter" along with images of the two tech executives.

The president of the UFC, Dana White, would be "licking his lips at the possibility of putting this fight on," according to broadcaster and combat sports journalist Nick Peet on the BBC's World at One show.

Because of Elon Musk's mentality and unique temperament, he claimed, there was a good possibility it might actually happen. His professional history tends to imply that he doesn't take voluntary retirement.

But when asked who he believed would triumph, he responded, "Zuckerberg all day! He's younger by 12 years. He's much, much smaller. He's about 5'7", and Elon is probably about 6'. Elon weighs perhaps a few of stone more than he did previously.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Musk has absolutely no training. It wouldn't be difficult for Zuckerberg to take his back, put his arms around his neck and give him a good old cuddle and choke him out, even if he has only been doing Brazilian jiu-jitsu for 18 months.

Mr. Musk has a history of making unreliable or unfulfilling statements.

For instance, he claimed to have appointed his dog as Twitter's CEO when speaking to the BBC in April.

In 2017, he claimed to have "verbal government approval" for a hypothetical train system called the "hyperloop" that would link New York City to Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. This hasn't happened yet.

After tweeting that he planned to take Tesla private, regulators prompted Elon Musk to resign as Tesla's chairman in 2018.

Additionally, Mr. Musk has followed through on several of his promises, such as resigning from his position as CEO of Twitter this year when the platform's users supported him in a poll he sponsored.

However, he had already stated that he intended to leave his position as CEO in November 2022.

Tech rivalry

Earlier this month, Meta showed staff plans for a text-based social network designed to compete with Twitter, sources told the BBC.

It could allow users to follow accounts they already follow on Instagram, Meta's image-sharing app.

It could potentially allow the company to bring over followers from decentralised platforms such as Mastodon.

A Meta spokesperson confirmed to the BBC that the platform was in development.

The text-based network - which has a working title of P92 - could turn out to be a greater rival to Elon Musk's Twitter than either BlueSky or Mastodon.