Mark Zuckerberg Tears His ACL While 'Training for Competitive MMA Fight': 'Grateful for the Doctors'

The Meta CEO picked up his MMA hobby during the COVID-19 pandemic

Mark Zuckerberg is recovering from a serious leg injury.

“Tore my ACL sparring and just got out of surgery to replace it,” the Facebook co-founder, 39, shared via Instagram on Friday.

In his social media carousel, Zuckerberg included several images of himself in a hospital bed, appearing to be doing well after his procedure.

“Grateful for the doctors and team taking care of me. I was training for a competitive MMA fight early next year, but now that's delayed a bit,” he added.

In the photos, Zuckerberg was lying down with his left leg bandaged and in a cast. He held up his left fist as a sign that the torn ACL didn’t get the best of him. His wife Priscilla Chan also appeared in the upload, wiping his forehead and helping him to put on a pair of shoes.

Related: Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan's Relationship Timeline

Zuckerberg added, “Still looking forward to doing it after I recover. Thanks to everyone for the love and support.”

The Meta CEO has been training in competitive sports for a while.

“Competed in my first jiu jitsu tournament and won some medals for the Guerrilla Jiu Jitsu team,” he said in a May 6 Instagram post. Photos showed Zuckerberg lifting his arm in victory after wrestling with opponents.

The following month, he made headlines when Tesla CEO Elon Musk seemingly challenged him to a “cage match.”

Both billionaires went back and forth on social media following online discussion about their competing apps.

After Musk, 52, took a jab at Zuckerberg, a user interjected to warn him that Zuckerberg “does the ju jitsu now.”

Related: Mark Zuckerberg Denies Being Choked Unconscious in Jiu-Jitsu Match: 'That Never Happened'

“I’m up for a cage match if he is lol,” the X owner responded during the June 20 conversation.

Zuckerberg got wind and posted a screenshot of the exchange in his Instagram Story, adding, “Send me location,” written in big letters.

Many wondered if the two tech entrepreneurs were serious.

In a statement to PEOPLE, a spokesperson for Meta said, "The story speaks for itself."

Days later, UFC President Dana White addressed the possibility of Zuckerberg and Musk going head-to-head.

"I was talking to Elon and Mark last night, both guys are absolutely dead serious about this," White told TMZ in a June 22 interview.

"Because they both said, 'Yeah we'll do it.' They both want to do it. Mark Zuckerberg hit me up first and said, 'Is he serious?' I said, 'I don't know, let me ask [Musk].' I asked him and he said, 'Yeah, I'm dead serious,' " White continued.

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In August, Zuckerberg claimed in a Threads post that Musk would not confirm a date. "If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official event, he knows how to reach me," Zuckerberg wrote. "Otherwise, time to move on. I'm going to focus on competing with people who take the sport seriously."

Zuckerberg regularly practices the hobby he picked up during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a Sept. 2 Instagram upload, he shared a video of himself fighting New Zealand mixed martial artist and kickboxer Israel Adesanya and UFC Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski on a speeding watercraft.

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