Dana White and Mark Zuckerberg attend the UFC 300 event at T-Mobile Arena on April 13, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Meta is adding three new people to its board of directors, and one of them is UFC president and CEO Dana White, the company announced on Monday. Zuckerberg is a fan of MMA who has medaled in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournaments and tore his ACL in a sparring session a little over a year ago.
As shown above, the Meta CEO has attended several UFC fights over the last few years and shared a picture with White on Instagram in February, as noted by Bloomberg, and White was mediating the proposed Zuckerberg vs. Musk cage match at one point. White also has a personal relationship with President-elect Donald Trump, who Zuckerberg met with at his Mar-a-Lago resort after Trump threatened “if [Zuckerberg] does anything illegal this time he will spend the rest of his life in prison—as will others who cheat in the 2024 Presidential Election” in a book released last September.
In a Facebook post, Mark Zuckerberg said of White, “I’ve admired him as an entrepreneur and his ability to build such a beloved brand.”
White maintained control of that brand after a New Year’s Eve incident two years ago where he was captured on camera slapping his wife in a nightclub, as reported by The Athletic. Afterward, White said, “There’s no defense for this and people should not be defending me over this thing no matter what… I have to walk around for however long I live — 10.4 years or another 25 years — and this is how I’m labeled now.”
John Elkann, CEO of European investment company Exor (which has stakes in companies like Ferrari and Stellantis), and Charlie Songhurst, a technology investor and former Microsoft executive, will be joining Meta’s board as well.
Meta now has 13 people on its board. “We have massive opportunities ahead in AI, wearables, and the future of social media, and our board will help us achieve our vision,” Zuckerberg says.