Elon Musk agrees to fight Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
1. Tesla CEO takes up another fight challenge after previously scheduled fight with Meta CEO never came to fruition
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has responded to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's social media video in which Maduro challenged the tech billionaire to a fight.
In a post on his platform, X, Musk, 53, wrote: "I accept."
The post was in response to a video showing Maduro, 61, holding a cellphone as he accused the SpaceX owner of wanting to invade Venezuela with his space rockets and challenged him to a fight.
In the video, Maduro said: "Elon Musk, you are desperate. You went off the rails. Control yourself, or you will fail just like these right-wing-led all-American politicians.
"Elon Musk, whoever messes with me dries up. Whoever messes with Venezuela dries up, Elon Musk. You want to fight? Let's have it."
He added: "If you want it, I want it, Elon Musk. Just say where."
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The challenge follows Maduro's victory in the country's presidential election after securing over 50% of the vote, although the opposition contends that the results are inaccurate.
Musk shared videos of Venezuelans tearing down images of Maduro and toppling statues of Hugo Chavez.
Maduro stated: "Social media creates a virtual reality, and who controls the virtual reality? Our new archenemy, the famous Elon Musk."
Previously, Musk had challenged Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to a fight, which never happened despite creating quite a buzz.
Social media erupted after learning Musk had accepted Maduro's challenge. One user wrote: "I'm putting my money on Elon. He's a towering figure and has the mindset of a honey badger."
"Maduro is a big guy himself and probably knows how to fight, so this would be a real fight. Zuck is a little fella, so that would be a short fight lol," Musk responded.
Another user asked who would win the fight between Maduro and Musk. The tech tycoon replied: "If I win, he resigns as dictator of Venezuela. If he wins, I give him a free ride to Mars."