Facebook, Meta Boss Mark Zuckerberg Wins Gold Medal at Jiu-Jitsu Tournament

Facebook and Meta creator Mark Zuckerberg is making headlines for some athletic achievements, if you can believe it. Mark Zuckerberg won gold and silver medals at a jiu-jitsu tournament in Redwood City, California – and it was his first time competing (at age 38, to boot). Zuckerberg has been open about his pursuit of martial arts training, which he began in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

As TMZ notes in its report (complete with video), Mark Zuckerberg looked impressive in his various jiu-jitsu matches – though there was one brief incident. Apparently, one match had a moment where Zuckerberg disagreed with a referee’s call, and had some trouble letting the matter go. However, as is noted, “It’s unclear why Zuck was upset, but after a short, but rather heated convo with the official and his opponent, everyone shook hands… all in all … Zuck was awesome.”

Other professional martial artists and fighters weighed in with congratulations for Mark Zuckerberg, with most people expressing genuine surprise that the tech billionaire held his own so well in the ring. The other side of that same coin has seen an entirely new wave of Zuckerberg-themed jokes wash over social media, with people comparing his abilities in jiu-jitsu to his tech business dealings – or, simply making jokes about the opponents who had to go home knowing they’d lost a fight to Mark Zuckerberg. 

There are some comments that do make an interesting point about how Zuckerberg and other tech pioneers like him don’t seem to be embracing the same product and lifestyle visions they’re selling: 

“Interesting to see Mark Zuckerberg spending his time doing JiuJitsu…the least digital and most analog thing imaginable. Very un-metaverse,” tweets @Hotshot_Movie. “Notice how all of the tech titans avoid their own products at all costs? We call that a clue. Get outside #hotshot”

What Is The Metaverse? 

The term “metaverse” has been used in both science and science fiction, as a conceptual evolution of the Internet into a fully-immersive virtual world, or a virtual world layered over standard reality (aka “augmented reality”). The concepts for application have taken many forms, from entirely virtual/VR markets and learning/business spaces, to entertainment content and performances that utilize the limitless creative freedom of digital presentation. Facebook made a full pivot to metaverse development in 2021 (after pursuing VR technology). 

However, in the years since, “Meta” (as Facebook re-branded itself) has not been the world-changing shift it was initially sold as. Safety concerns and developmental delays pretty much stalled the campaign, and as of earlier this year, Zuckerberg announced Meta is now re-focusing on AI.