Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are arguably the highest profile rivals around in the tech world with their status in social media largely unmatched. Naturally this has led to tensions between the pair, and a feud has developed since the latter's development of Threads which has seen talks emerge over an MMA fight between the business moguls.

Both potential fighters have received a multitude of offers from promotions including UFC president Dana White and ONE Championship to stage the event, while current contenders have also offered to train both men. Zuckerberg has already shown his Jiu-Jitsu skills which eventually saw Musk decide to put out a call-out on his X account. However, the pair are now involved in a disagreement over the terms, which has seen their feud turn from public to private.

Elon Musk's call-out of Mark Zuckerberg

Zuckerberg had begun training in MMA and had posted regular videos of himself in training, which was understood to be a hobby alongside his expertise in the tech world. This drew a red alert to rival Musk, who has become a competitor in the same field after acquiring Twitter which he has since rebranded as X.

He first wrote: "I am up for a cage match if he is". Zuckerberg then replied to the initial fight proposal, writing on Instagram: "Send me location". Musk then proposed that the pair meet in the UFC octagon, and it was expected that talks would accelerate given UFC kingpin White spoke to both men about his openness to stage a fight in the future.

However, despite the entire fighting world seeming to get behind the event, including discussing the winner and which team they would side with, an official agreement or any kind of talks have not materialised to date. It was initially proposed that the pair would fight for charity, with the showdown being valued at a mammoth $1 billion, but it seems it could be a very difficult event to stage.

Mark Zuckerberg's MMA training footage

The origin of the fight call-out came from Zuckerberg's MMA training footage which stunned fans, as he showed some real technique when grappling with experienced fighters. It emerged that he had been working on his Jiu-Jitsu and had even won a competition where he competed in battles with other opponents, which acted as his first experience of fighting competitively.

Earlier this year, Zuckerberg showed off some remarkable footage of himself in action with long-term training partner Khai Wu, who was left extremely impressed by his desire to improve and learn. He gave him glowing praise at the end of the session, and during the clip Zuckerberg showed his skill by performing a takedown which was shocking for Wu.

WATCH: Mark Zuckerberg takes down training partner in sparring session

At the age of 39 it is extremely unlikely that Zuckerberg would look to make a serious career out of his new-found love, but the Meta CEO could certainly look for a one-off lucrative opportunity with the proceeds potentially going to charity.

Elon Musk's agreement claim

A new development broke last week in which Musk suggested that a fight agreement was nearly remarkably in place despite no prior news of any talks. Zuckerberg and Musk are certainly not likely to agree on many things, particularly given Musk spoke publicly of his plan to take control of any clash after first agreeing to train with UFC legend Georges St Pierre.

He first tweeted: "The fight will be managed by my and Zuck’s foundations (not UFC). Livestream will be on this platform and Meta. Everything in camera frame will be ancient Rome, so nothing modern at all.

"I spoke to the PM of Italy and Minister of Culture. They have agreed on an epic location." The tweet came after the Italian Minister of Culture was claimed to have reached out to Musk's rival himself to gauge interest in a showdown and proceed with formal talks.

However, Zuckerberg quickly hit back at the claims on his own site Threads, which read: "Elon won't confirm a date, then says he needs surgery, and now asks to do a practice round in my backyard instead. If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official event, he knows how to reach me. Otherwise, time to move on. I'm going to focus on competing with people who take the sport seriously."

The Meta chief is understood to want the fight to be done on official grounds via a specific MMA promotion which could include the UFC, Bellator, PFL or even his own suggested ONE Championship. Musk has no prior experience in the cage despite suggesting he would secure the showdown as soon as next Monday, which came as shock to fans.

Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg clash in DM's

Since Zuckerberg distanced himself from the potential deal, Musk has continued to campaign for the event to take place having allegedly approached a number of venues including Rome's famous Colisseum about playing host. UFC president White claimed that he had spoken to both men together and had determined that they were certainly serious about talks.

This appears to have come to the fore in an even more prominent way this week with Musk having contacted Zuckerberg directly for the first time over a potential squared circle meeting. In a tweet sharing a screenshot of himself allegedly contacting Zuckerberg, Musk has shown his rival's stance on an agreement, in a glimpse of an argument that appeared to be getting slightly heated.

He first wrote: "Want to do a practice bout at your house next week?" This question came before Musk even himself claimed that he had driven to Zuckerberg's address to try and force through talks with some promotion of his Tesla car brand. The recipient then replies: "If you still want to do a real MMA fight, then you should train on your own and let me know when you're ready to compete."

He continues: "I don't want to keep hyping something that will never happen, so you should either decide you're going to do this and do it soon, or we should move on." His later Threads post appears to confirm the exchange was indeed authentic, and is a sign for fans who want to see the bout that things could be moving in the right direction.

Despite Zuckerberg's experience, his fellow tech mogul will have a significant size advantage which he will hoping to be able to use if the pair do indeed go to war in the cage. A win will have huge ramifications on the other's reputation and despite being for charity it could represent huge bragging rights for the winner in the tech space.