When UFC commentator and podcast host Joe Rogan found out that tech billionaire Elon Musk challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin to a fight, Rogan immediately offered to “arrange” for all of his training, according to The Post Millennial.
"I offered my services,” Rogan told his podcast guest, Australian comedian Monty Franklin. “I texted him. I said, 'Dude, I will arrange all of your training if you really do fight Putin. I will arrange all your training.' It would be so f****** epic.”
Franklin then asked Rogan how a potential fight between Musk and Putin could occur.
"Are they fighting full martial arts, or doing boxing, or … ?" Franklin asked.
"I would say martial arts,” Rogan responded. “You'd have to do martial arts. You'd have to, like, an MMA fight. It's 2022; f*** the boxing."
Rogan next recounted an episode Musk allegedly told him about, in which he injured his neck in a match with a world champion sumo wrestler.
“But he actually defeated some world champion sumo wrestler,” Rogan said.
Musk challenged Putin to a “single combat” fight on March 14 on Twitter, telling the Russian head of state that the “stakes are [Ukrainian spelling of Ukraine].”
"I hereby challenge [Russian spelling of Putin’s name] to single combat," Musk said.
The Tesla CEO concluded his thread by asking if Putin accepts the challenge.
The head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin, responded by quoting the fairytale “The Tale of the Pope and of His Workman Balda,” by Russian writer A.S. Pushkin.
“You, little devil, are still young, compete with me weak; it would only be a waste of time,” Rogozin wrote. “Overtake my brother first.”
Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov jumped into the comments, tweeting, “We can send him to Jupiter, just in case,” and included a link to a crowdfunding website to help build a rocket to send Putin into space.
The International Business Times reports that the SpaceX founder has been vocal about his support for Ukraine since the conflict began.
Musk has also given Ukrainian officials access to his private satellite internet venture called Starlink, which would allow people to make video calls, play online and stream.
Ukrainian Tesla employees who were drafted to fight the Russian invasion would receive up to three months’ salary, The Post Millennial reports.
The company has approximately 5,000 workers in Ukraine.