Mark Zuckerberg's Awkward UFC Fight Moment Becomes Internet's Latest Relatable Meme

Mark Zuckerberg has been putting in work this past year with MMA training and floating the possibility of fighting fellow tech billionaire Elon Musk in a UFC-style cage match. Now that the Meta CEO is entrenched in the UFC world, he's establishing his presence in the scene—though perhaps not in the most socially graceful way.

At UFC 298 over the weekend, Zuckerberg was spotted supporting Australian fighter Alex Volkanovski and standing in his corner before the fight. Zuckerberg has trained with Volkanovski before, so they've developed a friendly relationship outside the octagon. Rather than effortlessly look like a part of the UFC scene, though, Zuck appeared out of place whenever the camera panned to him, sparking an avalanche of memes joking about his awkward moments at the fight.

One clip that has become meme fodder depicts a moment when Zuckerberg is seen bobbing his head to music. As he's doing that, the people around him in Volkanovski's corner pass different objects like sandals and a shirt to each other in front of Zuckerberg. The Facebook founder lifted his hands to help pass the items off between each person, but he was seemingly ignored and left with nothing to do with his hands.

Naturally, social media users had a field day just with that moment. "When you promised to help your buddy move furniture but don’t want to throw out your back and are really just there to hang out, tell jokes, and eat a couple slices of pizza he bought," one person wrote with the video.

Financial advisor Douglas Boneparth likened it to being in school and getting assigned to a group project. "When the teacher puts me with the smart kids for the group project," he wrote.

Another user simply called Zuckerberg "the helpful intern."

If you've ever gone over to a friend's house and offered a helping hand, you might relate to Zuckerberg's interactions. "Me going to someone's house and asking if i can help with anything before dinner," one user wrote.

The same goes for if you've ever gone camping with friends and offer to help set up camp when you really don't have skills or experience to contribute. "Me when I go camping and asking if I can help set up the tent," one person wrote.

Sometimes at the grocery store, you might find yourself having to help the cashier speed up the line by putting your groceries in bags after they ring up your items. The video seems to be an accurate depiction of that situation, with one X user compared the video to "trying to be collaborative with the cashier while they ring up my groceries."

Barstool Sports even gave commentary of their own. "Rumor has it Zuck is still looking for something to grab," the account quipped.

Ultimately, the contributions of Zuckerberg and other supporters in Volkanovski's corner didn't help the Aussie martial artist in the ring. Georgian-Spanish fighter Ilia Topuria knocked out Volkanovski in the featherweight final. As for Zuckerberg's purported fight with Musk, that face-off remains up in the air.