Dana White, CEO of Ultimate Fighting Championship and longtime friend of Donald Trump, is joining the board of Facebook parent company Meta two weeks before the brand new administration takes office.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who had a very strained relationship with Trump in the course of the president-elect's first term, said in a Facebook post on Monday that White had made the UFC “one of the most valuable, fastest-growing and most popular sports companies” within the World.”
“I admired him as an entrepreneur and his ability to build such a popular brand,” Zuckerberg said in the post.
Zuckerberg has been practicing mixed martial arts in recent years and has competed in several UFC events, highlighting his enthusiasm for combat sports.
In 2023, Zuckerberg tore his ACL during a sparring session as part of training for an MMA competition fight. This year, Zuckerberg and Tesla CEO Elon Musk exchanged verbal disagreements and suggested they were ready to fight each other in a battle that White would help shape. But Zuckerberg later said The fight ended because Musk wasn’t “serious.”
White appeared on stage with Trump on election night in November after the victory was clear.
“This is what happens when the machine comes after you,” White said after being introduced by Trump. “What you’ve seen over the last few years looks like this. I couldn't stop him, he keeps going, he doesn't give up, he is the most resilient and hardworking man I have ever met in my life.”
Last month, Meta confirmed that the company had donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund. Zuckerberg was also one of several technology executives who visited Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, after the election.
Musk has had his own ties to the UFC in the recent past. In 2021, Musk joined the board of Ari Emanuel's Endeavor Group, which owns the UFC through TKO Group Holdings. A year later he dropped out.
Other new members of Meta's board include John Elkann, the CEO of Italian holding company Exor, and former Microsoft Charlie Songhurst, head of corporate strategy, said Zuckerberg.
Elkann is chairman of Exor's automotive companies Stellantis and Ferrari, while Songhurst served on Meta's advisory group last year, helping the company with its artificial intelligence and technology strategies, Zuckerberg added.
“We have tremendous opportunities ahead of us in AI, wearables and the future of social media, and our board will help us achieve our vision,” Zuckerberg said.
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