Mark Zuckerberg vs UFC champion: Bizarre lake sparring session goes viral
Merab Dvalishvili is a former UFC bantamweight champion who won the title at UFC 306
Mark Zuckerberg is not just a tech titan. His latest fighting moves during the lake sparring session speak volumes of his UFC skills.
The Meta CEO posted an Instagram video of “Round 2” in which he was seen sparring shirtless in black-and-white gear against the UFC bantamweight fighter Merab Dvalishvili on a barge floating in the middle of a lake with a referee overseeing the session.
The video with a caption "Back on the barge with merab.dvalishvili. Round 2," features Zuckerberg and Dvalishvili who engaged in a full-contact training session, exchanging kicks and punches, with the UFC fighter picking Zuckerberg up and carrying him across the deck.
Priscilla Chan , Zuckerberg's wife, unexpectedly paddled past the barge on a kayak during the session.
Speaking about the fighter in the footage, Dvalishvili is a former UFC bantamweight champion who won the title at UFC 306 and defended it three-times in 2025. Known as the “The Machine,” he also holds the UFC record for most takedowns.
The footage took the internet by storm and drew mixed responses from the netizens. One user commented, “The only thing missing is a Wi‑Fi signal in the middle of the lake, because even Zuckerberg can’t stream his own knockout.”
“Ohhh that’s why we haven’t heard much from Zuck the past few years. Elon said he could take him in a fight and he hasn’t stopped training,” another one quipped.
This event follows previous high-profile training sessions with UFC stars, including an 11-minute sparring session with Aljamain Sterling in December, 2025 and a filmed training session with Alex Pereira in October 2025.
