Mark Zuckerberg posing with UFC president Dana White all over a UFC Struggle Night time match.
Jeff Bottari | Ufc | Getty Photographs
Dana White, CEO of the Closing Combating Championship and an established buddy of President-elect Donald Trump, is becoming a member of the board of Fb mother or father Meta two weeks sooner than the unused Trump management starts.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who had a specifically disturbing dating with Trump all over the president-elect’s first time period in place of work, mentioned in a Fb publish Monday that White has constructed the UFC “into one of the most valuable, fastest growing, and most popular sports enterprises in the world.”
“I’ve admired him as an entrepreneur and his ability to build such a beloved brand,” Zuckerberg mentioned within the publish.
Zuckerberg has been practising combined martial arts in recent times and has attended a number of UFC occasions, underscoring his keenness for the fight recreation.
In 2023, Zuckerberg tore his ACL all over a sparring consultation as a part of coaching for a aggressive MMA combat. That month, Zuckerberg and Tesla CEO Elon Musk traded verbal barbs and indicated that they have been prepared to combat each and every alternative in a fit that White would support manufacture. However Zuckerberg next said the combat was once off as a result of Musk wasn’t “serious.”
White gave the impression with Trump onstage on election evening in November then the victory was once in hand.
“This is what happens when the machine comes after you,” White mentioned, then being offered by means of Trump. “What you’ve seen over the last several years, this is what it looks like. Couldn’t stop him, he keeps going forward, he doesn’t quit, he’s the most resilient hardworking man I’ve ever met in my life.”
Endmost era, Meta showed that the corporate had donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural capitaltreasury. Zuckerberg was once additionally certainly one of a number of tech executives who visited Trump at his Mar-a-Lago hotel in Palm Seaside, Florida, following the election.
White, who has led UFC since 2001, turned into embroiled in controversy two years in the past then a video printed by means of TMZ confirmed him slapping his spouse at a Fresh While’s Eve celebration in Mexico. White issued a public apology, and his spouse, Anne White, issued a observation to TMZ, calling it an detached incident.
Musk has had his personal connections to UFC within the contemporary life. In 2021, Musk joined the board of Ari Emanuel’s Enterprise Staff, which owns the UFC thru TKO Staff Holdings. He exited a month next.
Alternative unused contributors of Meta’s board come with John Elkann, the CEO of Italian conserving corporate Exor, and previous Microsoft head of company technique Charlie Songhurst, Zuckerberg mentioned.
Elkann is chairman of Exor’s car firms Stellantis and Ferrari, era Songhurst has spent the former month on Meta’s advisory workforce serving to the corporate with its synthetic judgement and era methods, Zuckerberg added.
“We have massive opportunities ahead in AI, wearables, and the future of social media, and our board will help us achieve our vision,” Zuckerberg mentioned.
