David Bridges
Does Dana White know about this?
The president of the Ultimate Fighting Championships may want to take a trip through social media if he’s on the lookout for new talent for his mixed martial arts organization.
The Shadow Knows
There he will find video of Meta Platform’s (<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/quote/META">META</a>) very own CEO Mark Zuckerberg sparring with Khai “The Shadow” Wu, a 27-year-old MMA fighter.
“I think Mark Zuckerberg is ready for a shot on the Contender Series,” one person, along with video of the workout, referring to White’s reality show that seeks fighters with UFC potential.
The two men punch and kick each other, roll around the mat and make a number of strange noises that “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert felt compelled to mock on his Sept. 26 broadcast.
“Nice,” Wu says throughout the session, as he taps out to an arm bar, takes a shot to the breadbasket, and blocks a Zuckerberg head kick.
The Facebook co-founder, who posted the video on Instagram, looks pretty fierce out there, but nowhere near as terrifying as the time he went windsurfing with enough sunscreen on his face to start his own Kabuki theater troupe.
The two men hug it out at the end of the match.
‘F****** Awesome’
“Good job, Mark,” Wu says.
Zuckerberg reportedly won praise from some professional fighters, including former UFC champion Conor McGregor, who took to social media to declare “Yo!!! F****** awesome Mark!”
Others were not so kind.
“How much does Mark Zuckerberg pay this guy?” one Twitter post read. “Must be a fortune ’cause the way he’s taking the beating is sus!”
“This is very common in MMA training,” another person tweeted. “The guy in white is the coach and he’s letting Zuckerberg work to put all his skills together. It’s light sparring. I assure you, Zuck is under no illusion that he’s genuinely kicking the coaches ass. This coach is actually doing a great job.”
Mixed martial arts may be a good way to take Zuckerberg’s mind off the run of grief he and his company have been contending with lately.
Meta’s stock price has tumbled since the beginning of the year, along with its market value and Meta, which was valued at more than $1 trillion on Sept. 7, 2021, is no longer among the Top 10 of most valuable companies in the world.
Reversal of Fortune
And Zuckerberg’s bank account as taken a beating worthy of any cage match.
He was worth $51.2 billion as of Sept. 27, down from $125 billion in January, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, booting him from the Top 20 ranks of the most wealthy people in the world and relegating him to the 22nd spot.
Oh, yeah, then there’s the whole metaverse move that has little to show for a nearly $16 billion investment.
Reality Labs, the division that houses Meta’s metaverse plans, recorded a second-quarter operating loss of $2.81 billion. In the first half, losses amounted to $5.8 billion. In all of 2021, Reality Labs had a loss of $10.2 billion.
The reversal of fortune has some analysts wondering if the boy wonder has lost his way.
Perhaps Zuckerberg who should keep up with his MMA workouts just in case he needs a new career.
Unlike life, when things get too hairy in the Octagon, you can always tap out.
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Troy Sanders
Clara Hastings
