Bantamweight Khai Wu has a big fight coming up on the PFL Championship undercard on November 24 — but it’s the inevitable questions about one of his students that he’s been answering over the past while.
That would be Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook founder and head of Meta, who have also brought Instagram and What’s App into the family over the years. Zuckerberg has been seen competing in jiu-jitsu of late, and clearly has taken a liking to mixed martial arts, even getting a private showing of a UFC Fight Night at the UFC Apex last year.
Through much of 2023, a proposed fight between Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, current owner of Twitter (or X, or whatever he’s calling it these days) has been talked about. Though never a likely possibility due to Musk’s age and the difference in weight between the two, even Dana White jumped on the bandwagon.
That fight probably isn’t happening. Wu, however, suggested that there is a chance Zuckerberg does compete, against someone else, in a recent interview with Cageside Press.
“I want to defer back to what he said, because he did say he wanted to move on to someone a little bit more professional,” Wu (7-4) stated when asked about what happened with the Musk fight. “I think it was really serious. No joke. It was very, very serious at a certain point. We were getting ready for him.”
“We were bringing in big guys to emulate all this and that. You can even see, [Israel] Adesanya posted a video recently on his Youtube channel of him training with Mark and Volk [Alexander Volkanovski], and I’m in the video training with all of them, hanging out. So it’s really interesting because we were bringing in the big guns to make it happen.”
Where things took a turn, believes Wu, is on the Musk end of things. “Elon probably got with someone like GSP, [John] Danaher. Those guys are smart, those guys are super smart. They’re not— you can’t be GSP and be a bad coach. I think they realistically told him, your cardio’s horrible, you’re 53, this is just not a good fight especially with someone like Mark. Don’t take it. You are so valuable and you have so much more knowledge to give in life, it just makes no sense.”
With Musk waffling, Wu added that “that fight’s not happening anymore because I think Mark really wanted to move on, regardless of what Elon said. Mark is really looking at— I don’t know. He likes competing. Maybe he wants to compete in jiu-jitsu again, maybe he wants to fight, I have no idea. But just whatever Mark kind of wants, that’s that I’m there for. To just help him get ready for that, give him that look. That’s what we’re going towards.”
Wu went on to hint that there could be something coming up, based on Zuckerberg’s own words. “Last I checked he posted on Threads, he was actually interested in still competing. So we might get him ready for something soon, just not Elon. I don’t want to put anymore fuel to that fire, if that makes sense.”
The questions about Zuckerberg, however, are something Wu has grown accustomed to from the sounds of things. “I completely understand. It’s like, what random MMA fighter? Especially without a big name.” As Wu pointed out, he didn’t come from a big promotion, and prior to the PFL date, hadn’t landed with one since a couple of early-career Bellator fights. “I do understand how that’s very interesting. Even myself, I ask myself the same question: ‘How did I get here?'”
What landed him the gig as Zuckerberg’s coach, Wu believes, is his personality. “I think my dad jokes, my personality, those got to him the most. He probably liked the personality, and that’s kind of how we connected. And although my fighting shows that I do have some losses on the record, I don’t think my coaching— I don’t present myself as a coach, however I have been coaching and teaching alongside while I was fighting professional. I definitely think that goes a little under the radar.”
Khai Wu now has his own fight to prepare for, the biggest of his career — the next fight, after all, is always the biggest. But it’s a chance to make a statement in a major promotion, airing under the ESPN umbrella. He’s set to take on Phil Caracappa, who has competed as a featherweight and won titles in the regional circuit.
“He’s bounced around. He’s a bigger 35’er, if that makes sense. He’s a little bit taller than me. So he has a lot of advantages on me,” noted Wu. “Now where I think I level the playing field is fight IQ. I’m not saying he’s not a smart fighter, but my specialty is dealing with someone that has that [much] more experience.”
Wu also knows the kind of preparation that will be needed to come out successful on November 24. “Not saying I’m the underdog, but it’s not like it’s a guaranteed win. It’s not like he’s 0-5 and I’m going in there with a full breakfast and still like ‘aww I’ll knock him out.’ No, he’s very, very tough. He’s won belts, multiple belts. So my job, I need to— I’m grateful that I have an opponent this tough. So now every day I go to the gym not just with a sense of purpose, but I’ve got to make sure everything’s perfect. Everything’s tightened.”
The includes strength and conditioning, power, speed, timing, focus. “Everything got to be sharp, because it doesn’t matter how good I do right now, it doesn’t matter what I say. Because come fight night I’ve got to be ready for all the problems he’s going to try to cause me.”
Watch our full interview with PFL bantamweight Khai Wu above!
