Elon Musk says Zuckerberg fight will take place in Italy

Elon Musk on Friday said he spoke with Italy's culture minister, Gennaro Sangiuliano, about planning a cage fight with rival tech billionaire Mark Zuckerberg in Italy. 

Musk said on his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, that he and Sangiuliano had agreed on an "epic location" for the fight, without specifying where. 

"Everything in camera frame will be ancient Rome, so nothing modern at all," Musk wrote.

However, Sangiuliano said after the conversation with Musk that the event would not be held in Rome, adding that they agreed on holding a  "large charitable and historically evocative event," which would respect and safeguard heritage sites.

Musk said the fight would be organized by his and Zuckerberg's foundations. 

Musk vs. Zuckerberg for charity 

Sangiuliano said that "many millions of euros" are expected to be donated to two Italian pediatric hospitals, and scientific research for fighting childhood diseases. 

However, the culture minister again seemed to diverge from Musk's interpretation of what was agreed upon, as the Tesla billionaire said on X that "all proceeds will go to veterans." 

Opposition politician Carlo Calenda, a former industry minister and head of the centrist Azione party, criticized the culture minister's willingness to entertain the possibility of the Musk vs. Zuckerberg fight.

"I find it simply mind-boggling that the Italian cultural heritage is being made available to two billionaires who want to indulge themselves like foolish teenagers," he said.

On June 20 this year, Musk asked on then-Twitter if Zuckerberg, who is trained in jiujitsu was "up for a cage match."

Zuckerberg responded a day later: "send location." 

wmr/rc (Reuters, dpa)