A good majority of the world was surprised to learn billionaire Co-Founder & CEO of Meta/Facebook โ Mark Zuckerberg โ hasnโt just been quietly training in MMA. Heโs been steadily gaining actual proficiency.
Ahead of Uriah Faberโs A1 Combat 5 event, which was hosted in Wheatland, California this past weekend, Zuckerberg publicly wished his training partner Khai โThe Shadowโ Wu luck for the latterโs professional bout against the 3-2 Joshua Dillon; Wu would eventually lose unanimous decision.
โOne of my training partners Khai Wu is making his UFC Fight Pass debut tonight. Go get it Khai and looking forward to a great fight!โ Mark Zuckerberg captioned a clip of himself sparring with Wu on Instagram.
RELATED: Mark Zuckerberg Captures Gold Medal At His First Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Tournament
As you can imagine, it didnโt take long for the post to gain viral attention. Due in large part to Zuckerbergโs (shockingly) complete toolbox of technical skills. Weโre talking kickboxing combinations, checking + cross-checking, head movement, defensive sprawling, an incredibly slick single-leg takedown, and even arm bars on both sides from closed guard.
โYo! Fucking awesome Mark!โ said former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor.
โLooking the goods,โ said Australiaโs UFC featherweight champion and #1 pound-for-pound fighter Alexander Volkanovski.
โThis is great! Iโm so happy to see this. Training looks solid too!โ said UFC colour commentator Joe Rogan.
Suffice it to say, there was no shortage of love for the fella giving mixed martial arts a red-hot go.
RELATED: WATCH โ Mark Zuckerbergโs Sparring Session With Alexander Volkanovski (In The Metaverse)
During a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, Mark Zuckerberg spoke about discovering his newfound passion for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA during the pandemic.
โI basically collected a bunch of recommendations, ran them by a bunch of people that I know. I ended up training with this guy Dave Camarillo [from] Gorilla Jiu Jitsu. Heโs awesome, super nice guy. I feel like Iโm learning a ton,โ Zuckerberg told Rogan.
โIt really is the best sport. The question isnโt: โHow did I get into it?โ Itโs: โHow did I not know about it until just now?โโ
โFrom the very first session that I did, like five minutes in, I was like, โWhere has this been my whole life?โ My mom made me do three varsity sports and my life took a wrong turn when I chose to do fencing competitively instead of wrestling in high school or something.โ
โThereโs just something thatโs so primal about itโฆ Thereโs a certain intensity to it that I like. Maybe thereโs this cultural thing where a lot of people havenโt considered it.โ
โIโve had 100% hit rate of introducing friends to it and converting them to people who now train. Every single person who Iโve shown it to is like, โThis is amazing. This is obviously how I should be training and working out.โโ
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This revelation comes weeks after actor Tom Hardy swept his division in the 2022 REORG Open Jiu-Jitsu Championship to win double gold.
For context, the 44-year-old actor of Mad Max: Fury Road, The Dark Knight Rises, Venom, and Peaky Blinders fame has been (sporadically) training in BJJ since 2011; shortly after production wrapped for his masterpiece of an MMA drama Warrior. At the time of this writing, Tom Hardy is a four-stripe blue belt on the precipice of purple.
Of course, Hardy and Zuckerberg arenโt the only celebrity advocates for BJJ. Aside from the obvious names such as Joe Rogan and the late Anthony Bourdain, everyone from Henry Cavill, Jonah Hill, Demi Lovato, and Mario Lopez, to Russell Brand, Keanu Reeves, and Jim Carrey have been known to grace the mats.
On the top end of Hollywoodโs martial arts pecking order, Ashton Kutcher has recently earned the rank of brown belt under Rigan Machado, while director Guy Ritchie and sitcom fixture Ed OโNeill have long been BJJ black belts.
Anyways, check out Mark Zuckerberg during an MMA training session with Khai Wu below.
