--- title: "Instagram Icon Dan Bilzerian Was Just Challenged To A $500,000 MMA Match" date: "2017-03-22" modified: "2017-03-22" authors: - name: "James Clark" job_title: "Editor-in-Chief" link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/james-clark/" url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/culture/instagram-icon-dan-bilzerian-just-challenged-500000-mma-match/" categories: - "Culture" - "Entertainment" --- # Instagram Icon Dan Bilzerian Was Just Challenged To A $500,000 MMA Match ![]() Often called the “King of Instagram” in the media, Dan Bilzerian is as entertaining to some as he is controversial to others. A multimillionaire, trust-fund beneficiary, and poker player, who documents his lavish and often-ridiculous lifestyle to [21 million Instagram followers](), Bilzerian never tires of showing off his exploits hanging out on expensive yachts, jets, and fancy cars, all filled to brim with guns, booze, and most of the time, half-naked women. https://www.instagram.com/p/BLA7Rxejp0L There aren’t many things he hasn’t tried — his social media pages prove that — and recently, Bilzerian admitted that he’s long considered giving mixed martial arts a go. Bilzerian recently told [MMA Junkie]() that he has thought about doing a mixed martial arts fight, but wants to go to an official training camp, and preferably, not take on any pro fighters. “I’ll be 37 this year, so I better do it pretty fucking soon if I want to do it,” he said. “It’s tough nowadays because these fucking kids are training from the time they’re 6 or 8 – by the time they get in there, they’re so well-versed.” It looks like he might have his chance. Mike Fortin-Demers, a private investor in Longueuil, Québec, dropped a challenge to Bilzerian on Twitter on March 22, along with a tempting offer: $500,000 if the Instagram hot shot will step into the cage. https://twitter.com/Mike_Fdem/status/844256664924667907 Well-versed in playing the odds, 24-year-old Fortin-Demers made most of his money from poker early on in his career, before moving on to the stock market, he told Task & Purpose in an interview. Because of this, Fortin-Demers knows a good deal when he sees one. “I saw an article that Dan Bilzerian was looking to do an MMA fight and I just thought that was my chance,” Fortin-Demers said. “I think I can beat him, so like I said, I’m a private investor, so when I see an opportunity to make money I just take it and I think this opportunity is like really good. I’m willing to bet huge on it.” Fortin-Demers has taken to goading Bilzerian into a fight on social media with the intent of taking it to the ring later. Screengrab via Twitter. ![]() The young investor says he knows Judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and competed on the national level for a few years, but doesn’t consider himself a top-level martial artist. Nonetheless, he thinks he’s skilled enough to challenge Bilzerian. https://www.instagram.com/p/6lSfM4IDjQ “I was thinking, this guy doesn’t want to fight a real MMA fighter,” Fortin-Demers said. “He’s going to get fucked up. The way he wants it, he wants a challenge. He won’t fight a nobody, so I have a decent background, but I’m not a top-level guy, and I have the money, so I think that’ll be a great match.” No confirmation yet on whether Bilzerian will take up the gauntlet, but if he does, the match will likely go down in late 2017. ## Author James Clark is the editor-in-chief of Task & Purpose. He is a former Marine and a veteran of the War in Afghanistan. ### Author social links [Twitter]() [LinkedIn]()