Meta has teamed up with UFC to bring live mixed martial arts (MMA) in VR to Horizon Worlds, the company announced in a Quest Blog post seen by The Verge. The experience, launching in November, will let UFC Fight Pass subscribers (via Xtadium and YBVR streaming) watch MMA action at 4K resolution and 180-degree VR capture on Horizon Worlds. "Enjoy the action alone or with friends and switch camera angles throughout the fight to get the best view of every matchup," Meta wrote. 

Users will also be able to discuss UFC with other Horizon Worlds users, check out a virtual version of the Octagon and compete in single player and multiplayer in-world games to gain unlockable rewards — all with the goal of becoming a UFC "Hall of Famer." 

The new experience is one of a number of ways Meta is attempting to lure users to Horizon Worlds. Recently, the company added Quests to keep users returning to the site, including mini-games like Giant Paddle Mini Golf,Arena Clash and Bad Roommates. It also recently introduced Rumble World, the first of many next-gen Horizon Worlds games featuring improved graphics and more complex gameplay. 

Meta said it latched onto UFC due to the "engagement and passion of this audience," noting that fans enjoy not just the fights but also sharing the experience with other fans. "We tested this technology successfully with a handful of MMA events last year, and now we’re going further," says MMA chief content officer Craig Borsari. "We’re just scratching the surface of how we can use this technology to create greater fan engagement and grow this sport."

UFC also makes sense on Meta given CEO Mark Zuckerberg's apparent interest in the sport (though his cage match with Elon Musk seems doubtful at the moment). In any case, live sports may be a potent way to attract new users to the reportedly flagging service, so it'll be interesting to see if Meta adds others along with UFC. 

Sad news for fans of billionaires beating the paste out of one another. It looks like the Mark Zuckerberg vs Elon Musk cage match isn’t happening, according to exclusive audio heard by Reuters. In an audio recording exclusively provided to the publication, the surprisingly buff Zuckerberg told Meta employees at a company town hall that he’s “not sure if it’s going to come together.”

Zuckerberg’s comments on the match occurred during a company-wide discussion regarding Meta’s recently-launched Twitter rival, Threads, which has been stuttering a bit in the weeks since blasting onto the scene.

Zuck didn’t actually say the match is off, just that it remains unlikely. So keep that glass half full, fight fans. Musk, who loves the letter “X” more than most people love clean air, hasn’t issued a response, but given Zuckerberg’s recent penchant for jiu jitsu, he could be relieved. 

The cage fight was supposed to be a glitzy Las Vegas affair, with the pair of billionaires dancing around the topics of date and venue for the past month or so. Zuckerberg has seemed pretty serious about the fight from the get-go, and Musk eventually relented, tweeting (x-ing?) that he was “up for a cage match” if the Meta CEO was. Musk also said he has this “great move” called "the walrus" where he lays on top of opponents and does nothing. 

Zuck certainly seemed ready to take on the challenge, according to trainer and MMA legend Alex Volkanovsky. And though he generally treated the whole thing as a joke, Musk did sort of prepare for the fight by accepting a training offer from UFC champ Georges St-Pierre and sparring with podcaster Lex Fridman. Of course, that's when he's taking a break from retweeting (re-xing?) hateful anti-trans content and changing the site's rules to allow for misgendering. Dana White, president of the UFC, has also told reporters that the organization was ready to assist with the event.