Meta has appointed three new members to its board of directors, including Dana White, the president and CEO of Ultimate Fighting Championship and afamiliar figurein the orbit of incoming President Donald Trump.The social media company, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is also adding auto tycoon John Elkann and tech investor Charlie Songhurst, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in aFacebook postlate Monday.Tapping White to join the board could be seen as Zuckerbergs latest maneuver to improve ties with Trump, who wasonce banned from Facebook. After Trump won re-election in November,Zuckerberg dinedat the president-elects Mar-a-Lago club in Florida and Meta donated $1 million to Trumpsinauguration fund. Other Big Tech companies such as Amazon have donated similar amounts.Trump is a longtime UFC fan and frequent attendee of major fights.His ties with White date back to 2001, when White hosted a UFC at the Republicans former casino-hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the Trump Taj Mahal. Trump has also appeared with White at UFC matches over the years, especially in his 2024 campaign as part of efforts to appeal to younger male voters.White, in turn, has had speaking roles at the 2016, 2020 and 2024 Republican conventions and appeared on stage at Trumps election victory party in November, even speaking briefly to the crowd.The pairattendeda UFC pay-per-view card after the election at Madison Square Garden, where fans applauded as organizers showed video highlights of Trumps road to reclaiming the White House.White has built UFC into one of the most valuable, fastest growing, and most popular sports enterprises in the world, Zuckerberg said. Ive admired him as an entrepreneur and his ability to build such a beloved brand.Zuckerberg is alsoactive in mixed martial arts. Zuckerberg and fellow billionaire Elon Musk seeminglyagreed to fight in a cage matchin 2023, but it never happened.Elkann, another person joining Metas board, is the CEO of Exor, a Netherlands-based investment company, and chairman of its two auto companies, Stellantis and Ferrari.Zuckerberg said Elkann has deep experience running large global businesses and he brings an international perspective to our board.Songhurst previously worked at Microsoft and joined began advising Meta last year on artificial intelligence.Kelvin Chan, AP business writer