Zuckerberg On Dana White’s Meta Role – ‘We Need Strong People’

Mark Zuckerberg has explained his decision to appoint Dana White to the board of directors of Meta.
The news came out of the blue, and it will see White further his role beyond the confines of the UFC. White is currently the CEO of the UFC, the biggest MMA organization in the world. He has put on some of the biggest events in combat sports. He was behind Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor in 2017. It sold over 4 million PPVs, making it one of the most lucrative fights ever. He also put on the first combat sports event at The Sphere at UFC 306.
It set a UFC live gate record of $22 million. White is close with Elon Musk. The pair supported Donald Trump‘s bid for a second presidential term. Musk was also linked with an MMA fight with Zuckerberg. White did say that it would be the biggest-grossing MMA fight of all time. Zuckerberg is still open to that fight. White’s relationship with both Musk and Zuckerberg could now help that happen. Zuckerberg’s decision to appoint White was based on his ability to get things done.
Zuckerberg Reacts
“What Dana’s done with the UFC is like one of the most legendary business stories and the brand is beloved. I think he’s a world-class entrepreneur and he’s got a strong backbone. I think part of the conversation I had with him around joining our board was, OK, we have a lot of governments and folks around the world putting a lot of pressure on our company.
“And we need some strong people who are going to basically help advise us on how to handle some of these situations. Running this company is not for the faint of heart. There’s definitely a lot of pressure from all these different governments. … I just want to spend my time building things. But, yeah, I think Dana’s going to be great,” Zuckerberg said
White’s Reaction
The introduction of White to Meta could also see AI introduced into the UFC. Scoring fights has always been controversial based on what judges are looking for. The Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury fight introduced AI into boxing. It agreed with the results of the judges. But it scored 118-112 for Usyk, which was much wider than the 116-112 card. However, it showed that it could be used as a non-subjective alternative to provide fans with an explanation of how things are scored in real-time. White is looking forward to what AI can do.
“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. 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,” White stated
Find all the latest boxing news and MMA breaking updates on boxingnews.com.