Zuckerberg, Merab Dvalishvili spar on the water
Mark Zuckerberg and the UFC’s number one bantamweight fighter Merab Dvalishvili took to the water for another sparring match.
Mark Zuckerberg and Merab Dvalishvili went head-to-head on a barge that ended with the UFC champion grabbing the Facebook founder and throwing him in the water before jumping in himself.
Video footage shared by Zuckerberg and Dvalishvili on Instagram shows the two sparring shirtless and barefoot on the barge, exchanging punches and kicks as Zuckerberg’s wife Priscilla Chan canoes nearby.
“Merab made me take my shirt off because it looks more ‘fighter,'” Zuckerberg told Chan when she inquired if her husband was shirtless. Chan said she agreed with Dvalishvili.
Zuckerberg, at one point, even kicks Dvalishvili into the water, who exclaims, “How dare you, Mark!” as he surfaces.
The fight, uploaded Sunday, Aug. 9, appears to be Zuckerberg’s second fight on a barge. The Meta CEO previously fought on a floating barge almost three years ago in September 2023, sparring with two other UFC champions: Alexander Volkanovski and Israel Adesanya.
Zuckerberg and Dvalishvili, meanwhile, appear to have previously sparred in December last year, according to an Instagram video shared by Zuckerberg.
“When @merab.dvalishvili is in town and asks to do some tune-up rounds, that’s one way to start your day,” Zuckerberg had captioned the December video.
Dvalishvili, 35, nicknamed “The Machine”, is a Georgian and American professional mixed martial artist and is considered as one of the greatest Bantamweights of all time, according to his website.
Zuckerberg took up jiu-jitsu during the pandemic
Zuckerberg, on an episode of the “Joe Rogan Experience,” said he started jiu-jitsu during the pandemic, sharing the “primal” nature of the sport and its intensity appealed to him.
“From the very first session that I did, like five minutes in, I was like, ‘Where has this been my whole life?'” Zuckerberg said on the podcast in June 2024. “MMA is the perfect thing. After an hour or two of working out, or rolling or wrestling with friends, or training with different folks, it’s like now I’m ready to go solve whatever problem at work for the day.”
The tech titan added training for the sport helps him maintain his energy levels and focus.
In May 2023, Zuckerbeg won his first medals in a jiu-jitsu competition after training with Dave Camarillo of Gorilla Jiu Jitsu, who has taught several UFC champions.
Zuckerberg, last month, also attended the star-studded invite-only UFC event held on the White House’s South Lawn for America’s 250th birthday celebration.
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.