Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White is joining forces
with Mark Zuckerberg.
It was announced on Monday that White — along with Exor CEO John
Elkann and technology investor Charlie Songhurst — have been
elected to Meta’s board of directors. One of the largest
information technology companies in the U.S., Meta owns Facebook,
Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads, among other things.
Advertisement
“Dana, John, and Charlie will add a depth of expertise and
perspective that will help us tackle the massive opportunities
ahead with AI, wearables and the future of human connection,” said
Zuckerberg, who is the founder and CEO of Meta.
White has long been the frontman of the UFC, both when it was
previously owned by Zuffa and now under the TKO Group Holdings
umbrella. He expressed enthusiasm about his new venture in a
release.
“I’ve never been interested in joining a board of directors until I
got the offer to join Meta’s board. I am a huge believer that
social media and AI are the future,” White said. “I am very excited
to join this incredible team and to learn more about this business
from the inside. There is nothing I love more than building brands,
and I look forward to helping take Meta to the next level.
Zuckerberg is an avid MMA fan, and not long ago, there were briefly
talks of White trying to put together an MMA fight between the Meta
CEO and Tesla founder Elon Musk. That notion was short lived, but
it’s been well documented that Zuckerberg is a consistent jiu-jitsu
practitioner — and he has also been present at several UFC
events.
Perhaps not coincidentally, White recently mentioned the
possibility of using AI for UFC rankings after voicing his
displeasure with the decision making of the promotion’s current,
media-based panel.