Featured Image Credit: SWNS
Topics: Mark Zuckerberg, Sport, US News
Claire Reid
Mark Zuckerberg has denied claims he was choked out at a Jiu-Jitsu tournament last month.
The Meta boss took part in his first ever Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament in Redwood City, California on 6 May - nabbing himself gold and silver medals.
However, one fight was stopped early, with the referee claiming he had heard Zuckerberg snore - a sign that he was no longer conscious. You can see a clip of the fight here:
Referee and veteran fighter José Lucas Costa da Silva told the New York Times: “This is something we are trained to know,” before saying Zuckerberg was a good sport who had been ‘enjoying the moment’.
But Zuckerberg and his coach Dave Camarillo have since disputed the claims, saying that he was grunting, not snoring.
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In an email to the publication, Zuckerberg said plainly: “That never happened.”
While Meta said in a statement to the Daily Mail: “At no point during the competition was Mark knocked unconscious. That never happened.”
A spokesperson for the company went on to say that the referee ‘apologized to Mark and his coach after the match for prematurely calling the match’.
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In the footage, Zuckerberg does appear to be annoyed at the fight being halted so soon and has a short discussion with the ref.
He then hugged his opponent and locked hands with him - seemingly showing him that was all well.
After the competition, Zuckerberg took to Instagram to show off some of his moves, writing: “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!”
Zuckerberg has previously revealed that he got into martial arts during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Speaking to Joe Rogan, he said: “I really like watching UFC for example, but I also like doing the sport.
“There's something so primal about it, I don't know.
“Since then I've just introduced a bunch of my friends to it. We train together, and we like, wrestle together, and there's a certain intensity to it that I like.”
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The Facebook founder said that training was ‘really important’ as it helped him to retain his focus.
“It's because I have a connection to it,” he said.
“Since Covid, I got super into surfing and foiling, and then really into MMA. I know a lot of people who do it.
“MMA is like the perfect thing because it's like, if you stop paying attention for one second, you're gonna end up on the bottom.”