Mehta appoints Trump ally UFC’s Dana White to board of directors

Dana White, UFC president and CEO and longtime friend of President-elect Donald Trump, has been appointed to Meta’s board of directors as a new member, the company announced Monday.

“I had no interest in joining Meta’s board of directors until I was asked to do so. I strongly believe that social media and AI are the future,” White said in a statement.

The UFC CEO, who has been involved with a mixed martial arts promotional company since 2001, supported Trump in all three presidential campaigns and called him “the toughest, most resilient human being I can think of” when introducing him at last year’s Republican National Convention. “I’ve met you before in my life.” White was also credited with helping Trump appeal to young male voters. This is one of the key demographics that helped him win the election over Vice President Kamala Harris last November.

Despite his role, White dismissed the possibility of taking a role in the Trump administration and expressed some dissatisfaction with politics in the weeks following the election.

“I will never do this again,” White told The New Yorker. “I don’t want anything to do with this. “It’s really bad.”

“It’s disgusting,” he continued. “I have nothing to do with politics.”

White is also close to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The two posed together for an Instagram photo, and White consulted with the tech giant to bring more AI to the UFC.

White’s appointment is the latest example of Zuckerberg cozying up to Trump and his allies and highlights the broader tech industry’s efforts to maintain good relations with the incoming administration. In late November, Zuckerberg met with the president-elect at Mar-a-Lago. According to the New York Times, it is unclear what the two discussed, but Zuckerberg reportedly led the meeting.

Meta is also one of the companies that donated $1 million to President Trump’s inauguration fund. The company did not donate to Trump’s first inauguration or President Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration.

News of White’s appointment comes days after Zuckerberg named Republican Joel Kaplan, a senior adviser to former President George W. Bush, as Meta’s policy director.

Others appointed to Meta’s board on Monday included John Elkann, CEO of investment firm Exor, and technology investor Charlie Songhurst.