Facebook's Zuckerberg trains with UFC great Israel Adesanya ahead of fight with Elon Musk

In what appears to be more than just a battle of innovation and technology, Zuckerberg has enlisted the services of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) legend Israel Adesanya, with whom they have been sparring even as fans await the fight with billionaire Musk.

In photos shared by Adesanya, the two are seen punching each other and taking each other down, with Zuckerberg, of course, wearing protective gear around his head to avoid any potential injuries from the New Zealander's heavy punches.

Musk first proposed the idea of the two fighting in a cage on Twitter, where he responded to a thread about Zuckerberg's then-upcoming rival app Threads.

“I’m up for a cage match if he is lol,” Musk said. 

The next day, Zuckerberg responded with an Instagram story that included a screenshot of Musk's tweet. He captioned it "send me location," a reference to former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov's famous line.

The banter got serious when UFC president Dana White joined in, sharing a video where he sported a Zuckerberg vs Musk shirt.

Zuckerberg's recent training comes days after photos emerged online showing Musk training with UFC legend Georges St. Pierre, mixed martial arts coach John Danaher and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu black belt Lex Fridman.

Their beef has escalated with the recent launch of Threads, an Instagram app bearing similarities to Twitter and believed to rival the Bird app.