Mark Zuckerberg poses with UFC president Dana White at a UFC Fight Night event.
Jeff Botari | Ultimate Fighting Championship | Getty Images
Ultimate Fighting Championship executive Dana White, a longtime friend of Donald Trump, will join the board of directors of Facebook parent company Meta two weeks before the new administration takes office.
Yuan CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who had a particularly tense relationship with Trump during the president-elect’s first term, said in a Facebook post on Monday that White had built the UFC into “the most valuable, fastest-growing, and most popular franchise in the world.” One of the “Sports Enterprises” in the world. “
“I admire him as an entrepreneur and his ability to build such a beloved brand,” Zuckerberg said in the post.
Zuckerberg has been practicing mixed martial arts in recent years and has participated in multiple UFC events, highlighting his passion for the combat sport.
In 2023, Zuckerberg tore his ACL during a sparring session while training for MMA. That year, Zuckerberg and Tesla CEO Elon Musk exchanged verbal barbs and said they were willing to compete against each other in a contest that White helped organize. But Zuckerberg later explain The battle ended because Musk wasn’t “serious.”
On election night in November, with victory in hand, White appeared on stage with Trump.
“This is what happens when a machine follows you,” White said after Trump’s introduction. “What you’ve seen over the last few years, that’s what it’s been like. There’s no stopping him, he keeps going, he doesn’t give up, he’s the toughest hard-working guy I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Last month, Meta confirmed it had donated $1 million to Trump’s first fund. Zuckerberg was also one of several technology executives who visited Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, after the election.
Musk has had his own recent connection to the UFC. In 2021, Musk joined the board of directors of Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor Group, which owns the UFC through TKO Group Holdings. He quit after a year.
Other new members of Meta’s board include John Elkann, chief executive of Italian holding company Exor and former Microsoft Zuckerberg said Charlie Songhurst, the company’s head of strategy.
Zuckerberg added that Elkann was chairman of Exor’s car companies Stellantis and Ferrari, while Songhurst had been on Meta’s advisory group for the previous year, helping the company develop its artificial intelligence and technology strategy.
“We have tremendous opportunities in the future of artificial intelligence, wearables and social media, and our board of directors will help us realize our vision,” Zuckerberg said.
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