The challenge for a Mix Martial Arts fight between billionaire and tech giants Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg could be more than social media gimmick as both men embarked on intensive and rigorous training.

While the two men battle it in a US court over Meta’s app Threads which many believed to have been modeled after Elon Musk’s Twitter, they appear to be gearing up for a battle in the UFC ring as well.

Days after pictures emerged of Elon Musk training with UFC legend, Georges St-Pierre, photos of Mark Zuckerberg training with Nigerian UFC fighter Israel Adesanya and Alex Volkanovski have gone viral.

According to a TMZ report, the two men flew into Musk’s home in northern California after UFC 290 in Las Vegas on Saturday, July 9, 2023.

The two professional UFC fighters got to work with Mark Zuckerberg and trained with him to put him in shape ahead of a potential match-up with Elon Musk.

The series of photos show the three men wearing training shorts and standing on mats; Zuckerberg with his wrists taped.

“No Fugazi with Mark,” Adesanya wrote. “This is serious business.”

On Instagram, Zuckerberg commented, “It was an honor to train with you guys!”

The intensive training by the two billionaires indicates that the promise to fight might not be a mere social media gimmick but rather a real threat to determine which of the two tech giants is stronger.

???????????? No fugazi with Mark ???? This is Serious Business‼️ pic.twitter.com/nraS4DrvuO

— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) July 11, 2023