In recent years, Mark Zuckerberg has faced a series of public setbacks. Once the domain of young people and the marketing demographic, Facebook has become more associated with older generations.
To counter this trend, Facebook rebranded to Meta and acquired Instagram and WhatsApp, all while focusing on the so-called metaverse. While promoting the metaverse, Zuckerberg has faced criticism for his age demo.
However, in a recent appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience, Zuckerberg sought to curry favor with the younger generation and pitch his innovations.
One of the most interesting parts of the interview for martial arts fans was when Zuckerberg revealed that he had picked up martial arts a year ago.
According to Zuckerberg, martial arts are a way for him to reset and focus, considering the barrage of bad news he encounters every day. In particular, he has become interested in activities that require full focus.
He has even hired a trainer, Dave Camarillo, from Guerrilla jujitsu, and says that he feels like he is learning a lot. Camarillo also worked with Keanu Reeves on choreography for John Wick 4.
But while Zuckerberg’s interest in MMA and BJJ caught everyone by surprise, nobody anticipated that the entrepreneur would even end up competing.
This past weekend, Zuckerberg medalled at a BJJ tournament reportedly capturing silver and gold medals. He also competed in both Gi and Nogi as a part of the same tournament.
Zuckerberg captured the experience: “Competed in my first jiu jitsu tournament and won some medals 🥇🥈 for the Guerrilla Jiu Jitsu team. Thanks to @davecamarillo @khaiwu @intense0ne for training me!”
He received universal praise for the effort, including praise from UFC stars.
Current UFC Middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya, applauded the effort. UFC champion Brendon Moreno wrote: “Wow congrats 👏👏”.
Featherweight champion Alex Volkanvoski appreciated Zuckerberg’s nogi attire: “Legend! Love the shorts mate”.
Bantamweight star Marlon Chito Vera left a comment saying: “What a G brother”
BJJ World champion record holder Marcus Buchecha left a comment saying: “that’s awesome, congrats @zuck”
Bantamweight title contender Merab Dvalishvili was hoping to get an invite to train together: “Congratulations Zuck great job. I would love to training with you. ”
Khai Wu, who was first spotted in that funny MMA training clip, also praised Zuckerberg’s effort.
Inspiring to see Mark compete in Bjj and take silver and gold! pic.twitter.com/YzLmkERvHJ
— Khai “The Shadow” Wu (@khaiwu) May 7, 2023
