Amateur MMA fighter Cole Johnson has claimed he was offered more than $500,000 to fight a chimpanzee, with a promotional website now advertising the encounter for 11 September, despite scientists warning that such a contest would risk catastrophic injury and no confirmed venue, animal or regulatory approval yet in place.
An amateur MMA fighter has shocked the internet by claiming to have been offered more than $500,000 (£370,000) to fight a chimpanzee. In a series of social media posts, Minnesota-born fighter Cole Johnson alleged he had arranged a fight against a male adult chimpanzee, scheduled for this coming Friday. Experts, however, have warned that such an encounter would be extremely dangerous, with primatologists cautioning that no amount of fighting skill would protect Johnson from potentially catastrophic injury.
How the story began
Johnson’s unusual venture began after he claimed in a viral post that he could “beat a chimpanzee in a fight,” a post that attracted more than 7.8 million views on TikTok. According to Johnson, members of the public subsequently began offering him money to follow through on the claim.
In an interview with Brendan Ruh of SantaCruzMedicinals, Johnson said he had initially been offered $500,000 to travel to an unnamed country to fight a chimpanzee. That first arrangement fell through when the original funder backed out, but Johnson has since claimed a second, “less sketchy” group has come forward offering an even larger sum to organise the fight. In a later post, Johnson also claimed to be travelling to the Democratic Republic of Congo in an attempt to “get a deal worked out.”
Johnson has since acknowledged that the idea originated as a joke, saying in a subsequent interview that he “never thought I was going to do it.” He said the situation shifted once people began contacting him directly with financial offers, describing the first person who approached him as someone he ultimately considered untrustworthy, which caused that arrangement to collapse before the second, larger offer emerged.
What the proposed fight would involve
According to Johnson, the chimpanzee involved would be unsedated, with its claws and teeth left intact, and the contest would take place inside a large, grass-based cage. He has also claimed that people equipped with tranquillisers would be present in an attempt to stop the animal before it could kill him.
Johnson has said he does not want either himself or the animal to die, despite continuing to discuss the proposed fight. He has also acknowledged understanding that the chimpanzee would not behave according to conventional combat sport rules, noting that unlike a human opponent, the animal would have no concept of a referee, a submission, or stopping once an opponent is incapacitated.
While it remains impossible to know how seriously these claims are intended, a website has since been launched to promote the “fight,” alongside the marketing of a related cryptocurrency.
Scientific warnings over the danger involved
Beyond the clear animal welfare and conservation concerns raised by the proposal, experts have stressed that deliberately provoking a chimpanzee into an attack would be extraordinarily dangerous for any human involved. Dr Kimberley Jane Hockings, Associate Professor in Conservation Science at Exeter University, told the Daily Mail: “Chimpanzees are wild animals with sophisticated social and behavioural responses, and when they perceive a threat to themselves or other members of their community, they can respond with extraordinary aggression.”
She added: “Chimpanzees are extremely powerful animals, with substantially greater upper-body strength and dynamic muscle performance than humans.” Summarising the potential outcome of any real confrontation, she warned: “When chimpanzees do attack, the injuries can be catastrophic.”
Johnson’s MMA background
Johnson is listed as a 24-year-old amateur fighter with a professional record of one win and no losses. His only recorded bout was a unanimous-decision victory over Harlem Frost at SFC: Legacy Lives On in Auckland on 5 December 2025, fought at a weight of 163lb (74kg). Fight records identify him as born in Minnesota but currently fighting out of New Zealand, where he trains at City Kickboxing under the nickname “Wavy.” His sole recorded fight lasted three rounds totalling nine minutes, meaning Johnson has relatively limited documented competitive MMA experience compared with established professional fighters.
How the event is being promoted
A promotional website advertising the proposed encounter has appeared under the name “Wavy vs Chimp,” marketing the event as a pay-per-view spectacle rather than a conventional MMA bout. Social media accounts began circulating the announcement on 5 September, describing Johnson as set to face a full-grown chimpanzee live on 11 September 2026, a claim that has since attracted millions of views across various platforms.
Significant doubts remain over whether the fight will happen
Despite the increasingly elaborate promotion surrounding the event, there remains no independently confirmed location for the alleged fight. No established MMA promotion or recognised athletic commission has publicly announced that it has sanctioned the contest, and the proposed event continues to be discussed primarily through Johnson’s own social media claims and online promotional material, rather than through any conventional sports-promotion announcement.
This distinction matters significantly: the existence of a promotional website and an announced date does not, on its own, establish that a chimpanzee has actually been secured for the event, or that the necessary legal or animal welfare approvals have been obtained for it to legitimately take place.
