Since joining the Meta board earlier this year, Dana White has been rife in his support of CEO Mark Zuckerberg, especially considering his backing of the UFC in return over the last 18 months.
Having gone on about the poor state of UFC rankings last month, the long-time promotional leader confirmed how Meta will be backing a new AI system implemented by the UFC, in a bid to shake up the rankings system currently in use.
And speaking with WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) executive, Stephanie McMahon, this week, White gushed over Zuckerberg and his company.
The UFC boss, clearly in awe of the billionaire, claims that Zuckerberg is aware of even the smallest of things under the Meta banner, something he cannot imagine doing.
“There’s some sh*t going on with the UFC right now, that I have no clue about,” White said. “This guy (Zuckerberg) knows everything that’s going on, in every single department (of Meta). It’s fascinating” the UFC boss noted.
Curious, Stephanie asked White if Zuckerberg was always the way he is now, or was it after he really got into Jiu-Jitsu and later changed the name of the company from Facebook to Meta.
“When he’s into something, he’s obsessed with it. And now he’s obsessed with MMA”, replied the UFC boss.
Breaking down his first real day at the Meta job, White also told Stephanie about the state of AI amid concern from the WWE executive about its evils.
“My first board meeting, they brought in all the engineers to walk the board through AI…And where it’s at right now, where’s it’s headed in the next — when I say, like this summer. Not like a year from now. This summer…” he continued.
“It’s crazy. Crazy cool — and crazy scary at the same time. A lot of unknowns with AI“, White surmised.
With artificial intelligence set to take the UFC by storm, White has also claimed not wanting any media involvement in the way the UFC ranks its fighters.
White blasts media amid rankings fiasco
Involved in various feuds in the last year, White’s biggest irk seems to be the placement of Jon Jones. Arguing in the Rochester native’s favor, White has often questioned how lightweight kingpin Islam Makhachev has beaten out the heavyweight pacesetter as the pound-for-pound best.
“I’m going to change it. The media will no longer control the rankings in the UFC,” White said earlier this year.
However, forced to concede the point after UFC 311, White watched on as Makhachev recorded a record-setting fourth defense of the 155lbs championship.
Submitting short-notice foe, Renato Moicano with yet another D’Arce choke win, Islam’s performance seemingly forced White to concede the top spot to the Dagestani maverick.
“Are you happy? Is everybody happy now?” he told the media after the PPV.
However, following his link-up with Meta board members, White boldly revealed changes to the rankings will come as early as later this year.
View this post on Instagram
It will be interesting to see if the AI rankings bring any significant changes or if they are more hype than anything else.
