Mark Zuckerberg Explains Why He Brought Dana White To Meta Board Of Directors

Mark Zuckerberg recently revealed how Dana White became one of Meta’s newest board members.

During an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, Zuckerberg explained why adding the UFC president to Meta’s board was a straightforward choice:

Oh, he’s awesome, I’ve been talking to him for a while about that.Talk about an amazing entrepreneur…

It’s like, who are the people I want [on the board]?I just want the best entrepreneurs and people who have created different things.

Zuckerberg highlighted White’s transformation of the UFC – noting how the promotion evolved from being a fringe spectacle to one of the most popular sports in the world:

Dana’s like this guy who basically took the sport from being viewed as this pretty marginal thing when he got started.John McCain was trying to outlaw it, and now it’s like…

I think it and F1 are the fastest growing sports in the world.It’s got hundreds of millions of people viewing it.

Zuckerberg expressed admiration for White’s ability to navigate challenges and grow the UFC into a globally beloved brand:

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.