In a spectacle not seen since Commodus entered the arena, billionaire Elon Musk is promising that the venue of his much hyped “cage fight” against Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg will be at “ancient Rome.”

Messrs. Musk and Zuckerberg have apparently been hurtling towards an Ultimate Fighting Championship style competition since the two playfully made public enemies of one another over their competing social media platforms, X, formerly known as Twitter, and Threads.

Now, Mr. Musk is promising that the venue for the fight won’t be Las Vegas ’s MGM Grand Garden Arena but rather will be somewhere in Italy.

In a tweet Friday, Mr. Musk announced that “The fight will be managed by my and Zuck’s foundations (not UFC).” and that it would be broadcast via livestream on both X and Meta.

“Everything in camera frame will be ancient Rome, so nothing modern at all,” Mr. Musk said. “I spoke to the PM of Italy and Minister of Culture. They have agreed on an epic location.”

Mr. Musk added that “Everything done will pay respect to the past and present of Italy” and that “all proceeds go to veterans.” 

He did not specify the Italian location, though speculation immediately centered around the Colosseum in Rome, where gladiators, as well as wild animals, fought to the death during the Roman Empire.

In recent years, it’s proven impractical to hold large events inside the ruins of the Colosseum due to a lack of seating, but successful events have been pulled off on stages that show the Colosseum in the background.

Mr. Zuckerberg hasn’t yet responded to Mr. Musk’s claims, and the Italian Ministry of Culture did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The new claims from Mr. Musk come just days after he addressed his own physical readiness for the fight, saying that he would potentially need to get surgery and an MRI before entering the arena.

For his part, Mr. Zuckerberg last month posted photos which appeared to show him in far better physical shape than Mr. Musk was in recent photos taken on a Greek vacation with the chief executive of William Morris Endeavor, Ari Emmanuel.

Mr. Zuckerberg has said he originally proposed the date of August 26 for the bout, but that he wasn’t “holding his breath,” suggesting that he had doubts about the fight actually happening.

Mr. Musk’s tweets also suggest that the UFC, which the New York Times had previously reported was involved in planning the match, will no longer be involved.

The president of the UFC, Dana White, had told the Times that “They both want to do it” and that “it will be the biggest fight in the history of combat sports.”

Over the course of their online feud, both men have been posting updates on their training and photos with elite competitors. Mr. Musk, however, would have a distinct disadvantage of being less experienced in fighting sports than Mr. Zuckerberg.

Mr. Zuckerberg has competed in Jiu-Jitsu tournaments in the past and is 13 years younger than Mr. Musk. However, Mr. Musk, has a size advantage over Mr. Zuckerberg.