Musk accepts Venezuelan president’s offer to fight

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has responded to Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro’s challenge to a fight over fraud accusations from Musk, saying he was ready to accept it.

The South American nation’s leader, who just won his third term in presidential elections, accused Musk on Monday of trying to disrupt peace and stability in the country, calling the businessman his “new archenemy.” 

Maduro was responding to Musk’s claims of “major election fraud” by challenging the billionaire to a fight, during an address he made on national television.

On Wednesday, when entrepreneur Mario Nawfal asked in a post on X (formerly Twitter): “Who had a Maduro vs Elon Fight on their 2024 Bingo Card?” Musk replied simply writing “I accept.”

In a second reply, the X owner claimed that Maduro “will chicken out.”

Nawfal further released a new post, stating that “Elon’s accepted Maduro’s challenge to fight… WHO WOULD WIN?”

Musk responded once again, writing: “If I win, he resigns as dictator of Venezuela. If he wins, I give him a free ride to Mars.”

The SpaceX chief executive has a history of provoking public figures into fighting. The tech billionaire has long claimed he could win in a fight against the founder of Facebook, fellow tycoon Mark Zuckerberg.

The spat between Musk and Venezuelan leader followed the businessman’s posts on the results of the South American country’s presidential elections. The National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela on Sunday declared Maduro the winner of the election, announcing that with 80% of ballots counted, he had secured more than 51% of the vote, compared to 44% for his main rival, Edmundo Gonzales.

Maduro will be serving a third consecutive six-year term, having first taken office in 2013 following the death of President Hugo Chavez. In his victory speech, he mocked the opposition, which, he said, “cries fraud” at every election. The Venezuelan president said his reelection would bring peace and stability.