Alex Volkanovski has been training with Mark Zuckerberg in the metaverse! The Facebook CEO shared footage of the two men sparring although it doesn’t sound like it was filmed recently.
Zuckerberg appears to have really got into MMA. And like most newcomers to the sport he wanted to rent out an entire UFC event for his friends before inviting the best pound for pound fighter on the planet to spar with him in the virtually reality world his team created.
Last year Zuckerberg shared some footage of him sparring with Khai Wu. But being one of the wealthiest men on the planet he decided to bring in a higher calibre sparring partner:
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Volkanovski has the biggest fight of his life coming up this weekend. The Australian is moving up to lightweight to take on Islam Makhachev at UFC 284 in Perth.
After their sparring session has finished Zuckerberg tells him to,
Go get that second belt.
Zuckerberg shows some impressive flexibility to leap back to his feet in a single movement after being taken down by Volkanovski. He also appears to have sharpened up his technique since the last sparring video was shared.
But when you have a net worth of $68 billion USD you can afford to bring in the best trainers and, in this case, the best sparring partners. Fans will be wondering when Zuckerberg is going to make his MMA debut although the Meta shareholders might have something to say about that.
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The future
Being the CEO if a listed company with an annual revenue of $85 million USD might make it difficult for Zuckerberg to realize his MMA dreams. But on the plus side the 38 year old does not seem to be doing too badly in his day job.
Last year Jingliang Li got dressed up in one of his trademark suits in order to attend UFC Vegas 61. But the Chinese fighter could not get into the Apex Centre because Zuckerberg has booked it out completely.
So there are definitely advantages to being one of the wealthiest men in the world. But the significance of this video goes well beyond Zuckerberg’s burgeoning MMA career, for many it was the first glimpse of two fighters sparring each other in virtual reality.
That is a sight that could become more common in the future, having invested heavily in developing the metaverse Zuckerberg appears to be banking on it. Volkanovski is one of the first fighters to enter virtual reality in this way but he is unlikely to be the last.
