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Dana White revealed he recently had a meeting with Italian officials about holding the Mark Zuckerberg vs. Elon Musk fight at the historic Colosseum in Rome.

The UFC honcho provided the update during his appearance on Mike Tyson's "Hotboxin'" podcast this week ... saying he did, in fact, talk to the folks in Italy about bringing the billionaire brawl to one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

"I actually did have a meeting with the Minister of Culture's team in Italy to actually hold that fight in the Colosseum if it would happen," White said. "We're talking."

TMZ Sports broke the story back in June -- sources told us administrators in charge of the landmark location initially reached out to Zuckerberg, who then connected them with Dana's people.

The Ministry of Culture's Office claimed at the time there had been "no formal contact" between the two sides ... but we were told there were conversations that occurred, and now White is confirming it himself.

As for the fight, White believes it can rake in more than a billion dollars in revenue ... saying it's an event everyone in the world wants to see.

"Think about how big that fight is -- two of the richest, most powerful guys in the f***ing world are gonna fight on the biggest stage ever," Dana said.

"Who the f*** doesn't wanna see that fight?? ... That's the kind of fight your f***ing grandmother would watch that fight."

One of the white men involved in the viral riverboat brawl in Alabama is feelin' the heat online by way of his small business ... which has been getting nothing but 1-star reviews since going viral.

Chase Shipman shared his involvement in the Montgomery, AL fight on the Facebook page of his shop, "Vasser's Mini Mart" ... about 50 miles away in Selma.

He claimed he was one of the first to try and get away from the situation, but when folks connected the dots and saw him right in the middle of the melee, they flocked to the store's Yelp page and let him have it.

Since Saturday's brawl, Vasser's has gotten over 300 1-star reviews -- and virtually all of them seem to be in the days following the viral attack ... with many calling the owner "racist," "liar," and "gross."

One even wrote, "DO NOT SUPPORT THESE MONSTERS!!!"

As we reported, the wild fight went down after a riverboat was trying to pull into the dock, but was being blocked by some people in a pontoon boat. The security guard tried telling them to move, which is when all hell broke loose.

While folks online have been coming after Chase and his friends for the attack, they're also praising the other Black individuals who hauled it down to the ruckus to help defend the guard.

3:07 PM PT -- Elon Musk might need more time to train and get ready for a cage match against Mark Zuckerberg -- but the Facebook founder says he's ready now.

Zuck fired back at Elon's chirping this weekend, taking to his own platform (Threads) to point out that he's all set to rumble, and at a moment's notice. He also says he suggested a date of August 26 when Elon first challenged him -- but claims EM is stonewalling.

Finally, MZ takes a jab at Elon's proposal of streaming the bout on X -- suggesting Threads would be a better place for generating actual revenue (for charity). Twitter/X has been in dire financial straits for months now.

Elon's teased the fact that he's pumping iron in preparation, but also notes ... Mark probably has him beat on stamina -- and that if they duke it out, he'd wanna end it quickly.

Elon Musk plans to make some loot for his company formally known as Twitter, because he's planning on live-streaming his highly anticipated fight with Mark Zuckerberg on X ... so he declared Sunday.

TMZ has been reporting, Zuck and Musk are both all in for mixing it up in the UFC octagon.  There were actually talks between UFC and the Italian Foreign Ministry about holding the fight at the Coliseum, but our sources say that's not going to happen.

We're also told if the fight goes down, it will likely take months. We're surmising from what we're hearing Elon needs more time to train ... something Zuck has been doing for a long time.

Despite their height and weight disparity -- Zuck's 5'7" and 150 lbs, while Musk towers over him at 6'2" weighing 230 -- M.Z. had a big edge when it comes to stamina.

The more these guys jawbone back and forth, the more likely it is they'll fight, because neither one is prone to blinking.

Stay tuned.

Mark Zuckerberg's training so hard for a potential MMA fight with Elon Musk that he's eating 4,000 calories EVERY DAY to avoid widening the huge size difference between the billionaires!

Zuck's been busting his ass training with some of the best UFC fighters in the world ... and even recently disclosed he installed an Octagon on his lawn!

In order to maintain his already slight stature, MZ revealed his McDonald's order on Threads, and it's a hefty amount of food for a 145-lb. guy.

"20 nuggets, a quarter pounder, large fries, Oreo McFlurry, apple pie, and maybe some side cheeseburgers for later?" Zuck said.

Assuming Zuck got two cheeseburgers "for later" (vet move), the Mickey D's alone is over 2,300 calories.

UFC fighter Mike David didn't totally agree with the nutritional choice.

"You’re in camp! No McDonalds 😂" the 10-2, 30-year-old MMA fighter wrote to Mark.

Good luck getting Zuck to stay away from the Golden Arches ... the Meta CEO responded soon after, justifying his diet choices.

"Not cutting weight so I need ~4000 calories a day to offset all the activity. And it's so delicious..." Zuckerberg explained.

Translation, Mark doesn't have to lose weight in order to fight. In fact, it's the opposite. It would behoove him to gain weight, 'cause Musk tips the scales around 230 lbs., and if the guys were to step foot in the Octagon today, Zuckerberg would be at an ~85 lb. disadvantage.

Zuck's huge caloric intake shows how hard he's been training. Just last month, he was working out with UFC champions Israel Adesanya and Alex Volkanovski. A gang of other fighters have also offered to help.

Dog The Bounty Hunter's lesbian daughter is apologizing to trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney in the wake of her father's homophobic rant, where he appeared to threaten Dylan.

Lyssa Chapman, who starred on Dog's reality TV show, tells TMZ ... she would like to send her apologies to Dylan and the trans community as a whole, and her heart breaks over Dog's hateful comments.

The apology comes on the heels of an interview Dog gave Tuesday, where he launched a homophobic tirade and took shots at Dylan and Bud Light.

In reference to Dylan, Dog said ... "People playing church all led to Bud Light. Is that right? Get that punk down. Rebuke Satan out of him and just give him a couple black eyes. That's exactly and I mean that. If I ever see him, I'm dropping him."

Lyssa says Dog's comments are not in line with her father's character (though he more than doubled-down) ... she feels that's not who Dog is and she says she's trying to find out why he said such nasty things.

Dog's daughter tells us they spoke on the phone after the interview, and she says it was mostly just them yelling and talking over each other ... the conversation, she says, was far from productive.

Lyssa says Dog's comments do not reflect the morals he taught her growing up ... and she loves him, but worries he's watching too much cable news.

Dog's other daughter, Bonnie Chapman, also released a statement aimed at her father, saying, "Jesus loves everyone and would strongly denounce this non-accepting rhetoric. It is utterly repulsive to to advocate violence against our transgender community, and it is equally repulsive to invoke Jesus' name in vain to support such views.

Mark Zuckerberg is clearly taking his potential fight with Elon Musk seriously ... he revealed Tuesday he's already getting in training sessions with some of the UFC's biggest stars -- and he's looking damn good while doing it!!

TMZ Sports has learned ... both Israel Adesanya and Alex Volkanvski flew to Zuck's crib in Northern California following Saturday night's UFC 290 showcase in Vegas -- and almost immediately, they got to work with the Meta honcho on the mats to prep him for a possible tilt with Musk.

The three obviously worked out for a while -- 'cause check out the photos, they were drenched in sweat.

What's even more notable about the pics, though, is Zuckerberg's physique -- the dude is jacked!!

The 39-year-old flexed some big pecs, chiseled arms, and a six-pack in the images. He also added in a comment on the pics, "It's an honor to train with you guys!"

Adesanya, meanwhile, was impressed with the billionaire's work ... saying in his own comment on the photos, "No fugazi with Mark 🦈 This is Serious Business‼️"

Zuckerberg and Musk have not yet committed to a fight ... but both seem dead serious about getting after each other in a cage later this year.

Mark Zuckerberg apparently can't wait to get into an Octagon with Elon Musk to take shots at the billionaire ... he spent plenty of time Wednesday night throwing keyboard jabs at his nemesis -- as part of the rollout of his new app, Threads.

The Twitter rival made its debut right around dinner time ... and just a few minutes into its kickoff, Zuck took to the site -- which many are calling the "new Twitter" -- to go after Musk and his bird app.

First, Zuckerberg tossed shade at Twitter while explaining to Mark Cuban he hopes Threads is a more "friendly" area for people to interact.

"That's one reason why Twitter never succeeded as much as I think it should have," he wrote, "and we want to do it differently."

Later, the Meta founder told UFC fighter Mike Davis he's got hopes Threads will outgrow Twitter one day.

"It'll take some time," Zuckerberg said, "but I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it. Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn't nailed it. Hopefully we will."

There were some veiled comments from Zuck about a potential fight with Musk too ... while replying to new signups throughout the night, he consistently made references to winning "round one" of Threads. He also laughed at the prospects of the billionaire superfight being called "The Meta Threada." He spent a whole lot of time interacting with MMA stars like Jon Jones as well.

Zuck even appeared to get back on Twitter after an 11-year hiatus to get in another little ribbing at Musk ... with an account apparently associated with him tweeting out the Spider-Man meme.

No date has been set for the potential Zuck vs. Musk superfight -- there's a lot of hangups over the size discrepancy between the two -- but it's clear, the guys are more than content battling each other behind computer screens while it all gets sorted out.

Mark Zuckerberg's new Twitter-like app is just days away from taking flight -- and it seems Elon Musk's not happy about the competition ... further fueling the two techies' beef.

In case you've forgotten ... the reason Mark and Elon are talking about fighting each other (for real) is because of this new service that Meta is rolling out called 'Threads -- which is said to be the "new" Twitter, if you, will ... only, it'll be rolled out under Mark's watch.

When Elon caught wind of MZ's new toy last month, he jokingly said he was willing to battle the guy -- and now, it's full-steam ahead on negotiations as they prepare to duel.

Welp, the impetus for this all came full circle Monday ... with word of Threads' supposed launch date being revealed as July 7 -- with the option to pre-order it now available on Apple's app store. There's more info as well as to what sorta data it's going to harvest from users ... something EM couldn't help but comment on Monday, taking a swipe.

In response to all the ways Threads is going to manage personal data (mining a helluva lot, frankly), Elon replied ... "Thank goodness they're so sanely run." That carries significance.

Reports have suggested that a Meta executive told staffers recently that Threads would be "sanely run" compared to Musk's wild west on Twitter lately -- but it sounds like Elon's scoffing at how much freaking user data they're going to control in order to do so.

Of course, you could argue Elon's probably a little worried about this new foe on the market -- especially in light of his absolutely hated decision to limit Twitter users' daily tweet count ... as far as being able to see new content. He's upped the count since the debacle this weekend -- but folks are still pissed and certainly looking for an alternative for news.

Something positive came from social media Friday ... a Facebook post may have prevented a tragedy that could have had fatal consequences.

Video of a roller coaster zooming across the tracks at Carowinds amusement park in North Carolina revealed a BIG crack on a steel support pillar, which separates and then snaps back into its proper place.

The Fury 325 ride was shut down after people on social began to share the vid, shot by Jeremy Wagner ... presumably for repair.

A spokesman for the park said, "As part of our comprehensive safety protocols, all rides, including Fury 325, undergo daily inspections to ensure their proper functioning and structural integrity.” Well, sounds like Jermey helped.

Fury 325 is billed as “the tallest, fastest, longest giga coaster in North America.” Its speed reaches 95 mph and soars to a height of 325 feet.

Italians would riot in the streets if Rome's Colosseum staged a UFC fight between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg ... that's the prediction from a famed archaeologist over in Italy.

Darius Arya, a historian whose been on tons of TV programs about Ancient Rome, joined us on "TMZ Live" Friday from Italy's capital and we asked him about the Italian government contacting Zuckerberg about hosting his fight with Elon.

For Darius, the prospect of the billionaires doing battle at the same site as the ancient gladiators of old sounds super enticing ... telling us the Colosseum would come out on top of a list of potential venues, mainly because of its international fame as the ultimate arena of the ancient world.

Darius says there are inherent issues with staging a fight of this magnitude at the Colosseum, because it's a heritage site and tourist attraction ... and while he's confident it would never come to fruition, he's glad folks are talking about the venue and getting excited about history.

Logistics aside, Darius firmly believes Italians would take to the streets in protest if the nearly 2,000-year-old venue gets the green light to host the fight ... so that's another hurdle for Dana White.

There's been concerts and other events on the Colosseum grounds over the years, mostly outside the arena walls ... and we've been told Elon and Mark would love to fight there ... but it sounds like Las Vegas might be a more likely fight destination.

As we reported, the Ministry of Culture reached out to Mark Zuckerberg about the prospect of staging a Musk vs. Zuck fight at the Colosseum, and Zuck passed it on to UFC's Dana White, whose people were in touch with the Ministry. A Zoom call was set for next week.

Elon Musk is already hitting the training mats in anticipation of his huge fight with Mark Zuckerberg ... throwing and slamming a famous black belt who recently trained with Elon's fellow billionaire.

Popular podcaster Lex Fridman says he had an impromptu training session with Elon on Monday, sharing a photo of Elon slamming him to the ground.

Lex, a black belt in jiu-jitsu, says he came away super impressed with Elon's fighting prowess.

"I'm extremely impressed with his strength, power, and skill, on the feet and on the ground," Lex said. "It was epic. It's really inspiring to see Elon and Mark doing martial arts, but I think the world is served far better if they train martial arts but not fight in the cage."

Don't get it twisted, Lex wants to see Elon and Mark do battle ... just like everyone else.

Lex adds ... "That said, as Elon says, the most entertaining outcome is the most likely... I'm there for them, no matter what."

It's interesting to see Elon and Lex training ... Lex recently had Mark on his podcast, and they trained some jiu-jitsu.

In addition to Lex, Elon's accepted an offer to train with UFC legend Georges St-Pierre ... while Jon Jones recently offered Mark his services.

As TMZ Sports first reported, Dana White told us both sides are for real about getting in the Octagon together ... and now Elon's showing just how serious he is.

Elon Musk is pulling out all the stops in preparation for a fight with Mark Zuckerberg -- the Twitter honcho just accepted a training offer from UFC legend Georges St-Pierre!!

The shocking development in the potential billionaire brawl went down on Monday ... when Elon replied to GSP's public pitch to lend a hand in beating Zuck to a pulp in the Octagon.

"I'm a huge fan of yours and it would be an absolute honor to help you and be your training partner for the challenge against Zuckerberg 👊😁," GSP said on Twitter ... to which Elon responded, "Ok, let’s do it 🔥🔥."

It's a massive deal for Elon ... considering GSP -- the former welterweight and middleweight champion -- is arguably the greatest mixed martial artist of all time. In other words, Musk will be learning from the best of the best.

GSP -- whose background is karate -- trains at Tristar Gym in Montreal under head trainer Firas Zahabi ... one of the greatest minds in MMA.

GSP's record is 26-2 ... with his only losses coming against Matt Serra and Matt Hughes. He racked up wins over Nick Diaz, Michael Bisping, Dan Hardy, BJ Penn and Johny Hendricks.

Zuck also has some star power in his corner -- Jon Jones recently offered his services to the Facebook co-founder, but it's unclear if he's going to take him up on it.

Elon teaming up with GSP provides more evidence the fight may actually happen -- and as TMZ Sports previously reported, Dana White told us both sides are for real about getting in the Octagon together.

Chael Sonnen was talking out the side of his neck when he claimed Mark Zuckerberg personally called him to reveal the Elon Musk fight would go down at UFC 300 ... so says a rep for the Meta CEO, who tells TMZ Sports no such phone conversation ever took place.

The former UFC star made the wild declaration on "The MMA Hour" earlier Monday ... saying Zuck dialed him up to share a major update on his proposed fight with the Twitter honcho during his appearance on the show.

"Zuckerberg contacts me because he saw your tweet that I'm coming on," Sonnen said. "Zuckerberg has told me that he has agreed to fight Elon Musk at UFC 300 and it was a very big deal."

Sonnen swore up and down that he was 100% serious ... adding, "That just happened. [My producer] Ethan is my witness, my son, Thero, my dog, Duke. This is a shoot."

While a Zuck vs. Musk fight could very well happen at UFC 300 next year for all we know, a spokesperson for the Facebook co-founder was quick to shut down any talks of a phone chat with the former contender -- saying, "I have confirmed with Mark that he did not call Chael Sonnen."

Things have been picking up steam after the two billionaires traded public jabs all last week ... and UFC honcho Dana White told us both sides are dead serious about fighting.

In fact, Dana thinks it could be the most successful fight in history ... and has the potential to rake in three times the amount of Pay-Per-View buys than Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor.

If Mark Zuckerberg really gets in the Octagon with Elon Musk, he'll have arguably the greatest fighter ever in his corner ... 'cause Jon Jones says he's down to train the Facebook billionaire!!

Bones took to Twitter Thursday night to offer his support to the 39-year-old Meta boss ... writing, "You already know I am Team Zuck ... Let me know if you need a training partner!"

As we previously reported, a fight between the two billionaires could actually happen ... with UFC honcho Dana White telling TMZ Sports both sides are serious about scrapping.

Of course, the weight difference between Elon and Zuck may pose a problem ... but Jones made it clear he'll be at the ready in case things move forward.

Jones' bond with Zuck goes back a few months -- in February, he commented on a video of Mark sparring with UFC champion Alex Volkanovski in the Metaverse ... saying the techy training looked like a blast.

Zuck wished him well ... replying, "Excited for your return!" ahead of Jones' first-round win over Ciryl Gane.

Now that one of the G.O.A.T.s is getting involved, the hype surrounding the potential fight is even greater.

Conversations continue between Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Dana White ... and while the billionaires are itchin' to get their hands on one another, there's is an issue preventing the fight from being made official -- Elon's weight advantage.

Our sources tell us the guys are still serious about fighting in an Octagon, and as the UFC president told us yesterday, he's absolutely down to put on the fight ... but, Zuckerberg's size disadvantage has become an issue.

In fighting, size matters, a lot. Elon is 6'1", and reportedly weighs between 185 and 200 lbs. As for the Facebook founder, he's just 5'7", and reportedly weighs around 155 lbs.

Significant differences ... Elon has a 6-inch height advantage, and somewhere around a 30 to 45 lb. weight advantage.

To put that into perspective, Zuck would be a lightweight in the UFC. Musk would be a middleweight or light heavyweight ... a 2-3 weight class difference.

Typically, exhibition fights ignore weight classes ... Floyd Mayweather has fought a much bigger Logan Paul, for example.

But, just because the fight could technically be made doesn't mean Mark isn't hesitant to give up a sizeable advantage to his foe.

On Thursday, White joined "TMZ Live" and revealed he'd actually been having conversations with both men, who Dana says are "absolutely dead serious" about fighting in an Octagon.

Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are "absolutely deadly serious" about fighting each other in a UFC Octagon and it would be the biggest fight in the history of the world, so says UFC Prez Dana White.

Dana told Harvey and Charles on "TMZ Live" Thursday he's been talking and texting with Mark and Elon Wednesday night and into Thursday, and says both men want to square off in Vegas.

"Talked with Mark and Elon last night, both guys are absolutely dead serious about this," White said.

It all started on Wednesday when Musk responded to a report Zuck was going to launch his own version of Twitter, to which Elon responded, "I'm up for a cage match if he is lol."

The Facebook founder got wind of the tweet, and served up a message of his own, writing ... "Send me location." BTW ... that's code in the world of UFC for, he's really serious.

So, fight on?? People weren't exactly sure if the men were just messing around ... but alas, White says they're not.

As for how big the event could be -- Dana believes it would easily be the most-watched fight ever, saying "The biggest fight of all time was Floyd and Conor, I just think it triples that -- it triples what that did, there's no limit on what that thing can make."

Dana's confident both men are capable of handling themselves. Zuck has been in jiu-jitsu competitions recently, and Elon has done martial arts and told Dana he was involved in "plenty of fights growing up in South Africa."

DW says the cost for Pay-Per-View would be $100 a pop ... it's normally $80 for a UFC fight. Forget about what it would cost to watch it in the arena. Dana expects the fight would gross hundreds of millions of dollars, and the loot would go to charity.

Bottom line ... this is no joke. Mark and Elon are serious, and Dana is determined to make it happen.

You can watch the full interview on "TMZ Live" Thursday.