Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg bagged gold and silver medals at his first jiu-jitsu martial arts tournament on Saturday. He posted a series of six photos to Facebook and Instagram, which shows the tech billionaire grappling with two different opponents at the competition.
“Competed in my first jiu-jitsue tournament and won some medals for the Guerrilla Jiu Jitsu team”, he captioned the images. It also showed a referee declaring Zuckerberg the winner after two matches:
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The 38-year-old said during an interview with podcast host Joe Rogan, that he took up an interest in the sport during the pandemic. He adds that he quickly fell in love with the sport. Zuckerberg told Rogan, who is also a fellow practitioner of the sport, that the sport’s ‘primal’ nature helped him boost his energy.
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
One of Zuckerberg’s coaches, Khai “the Shadow” Wu congratulated his student, “Yesterday getting to see Zuck compete was pretty epic”:
No match was easy and everything was earned. It was an honor to be able to help coach and offer any advice I could
Former UFC Champion, Conor McGregor commented under Zuckerberg’s post with “Yo!!! F***ing awesome Mark”. Meanwhile, five-time world Jiu-Jitsu champion, Bernardo Faria said Zuckerberg’s victory was “amazing”. “Half guard, arm-bars, triangle! Super cool” he commented.
Mark Zuckerberg trains with coach Dave Camarillo. He has taught several UFC mixed martial arts champions.
Other famous celebs have also taken up the sport, including actor Ashton Kutcher. He took up jiu-jitsu more than a decade ago and has a brown belt in the sport. Comedian Russel Brand and Jason Statham have purple belts. Actor, Tom Hardy competes in jiu-jitsu in the UK.
