Mark Zuckerberg sparred former UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili on a barge in the middle of Lake Tahoe, sharing the footage himself on Sunday afternoon.
The Meta chief executive and the Georgian UFC fighter traded blows as videographers, drone operators and friends watched from multiple angles. At one point in the footage, Zuckerberg's wife, Priscilla Chan, rides past on a canoe.
"Merab made me take my shirt off because it looks more fighter," Zuckerberg said.
Dvalishvili, who won the UFC title in 2024 and remains the number one contender in the bantamweight division, appeared to take it easy on Zuckerberg. Even so, Zuckerberg showed off his striking and wrestling skills, at one point throwing Dvalishvili off the barge and into the water.
It was the second time the pair have sparred, having previously trained together in December 2025. The 5ft 7in billionaire regularly trains in MMA and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and UFC president Dana White has said Zuckerberg "could beat the s*** out of you."
Yacht distress call denial
The sparring video comes days after Zuckerberg denied claims that his superyacht, The Launchpad, ignored a distress call from a stranded vessel in Alaskan waters.
A 21-foot skiff ran out of fuel between Juneau and Petersburg and was eventually rescued by a much smaller boat. Zuckerberg's 387-foot, $300 million yacht was in the vicinity on August 3, though the billionaire was not aboard, according to his spokesman.
The skiff contacted the Coast Guard, which determined it was not in distress and issued a marine assistance broadcast. The Wilderness Legacy, a cruise ship operated by UnCruise Adventures, answered the call despite Zuckerberg's yacht being closer.
Brian Baker, a spokesman for the Facebook and Instagram founder, told Forbes that Launchpad was on a different radio channel when the request went out, and that by the time the crew reviewed the broadcast another vessel had already begun responding.
Passenger describes booing on cruise ship
Michael Love said on Bluesky that he and his son were aboard the Wilderness Legacy when it helped rescue the skiff. He wrote that the ship's captain announced Zuckerberg's yacht had repeatedly failed to respond to calls for assistance, adding there was near-unanimous booing when the captain said this.
According to vessel-tracking data cited by the Alaska Beacon, the cruise ship maneuvered around the yacht before towing the skiff to Farragut Bay.
Responding to Baker's denial, Love wrote that the yacht's operators did not dispute most of the story except to claim they never received the call rather than ignored it intentionally, adding he wished they had explained why their boat stopped at the moment it did.
According to Lasicilia, US regulations require mariners to assist a vessel only when it is in danger of being lost. Since the Coast Guard determined the situation was not a distress emergency, the assessment appears to support Launchpad's position. Zuckerberg purchased the yacht in 2024, according to the Seattle Times.
