Dana White is open to having celebrity martial artists compete under the UFC banner thanks to the promotion’s newest venture.
This week is a big one for combat sports with UFC 317 on June 28 headlining International Fight Week in Las Vegas.
Saturday night also sees the boxing return of Jake Paul, who still has a lot of big names in mind if he’s able to get past Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in Anaheim.
One of the criticisms that the UFC has faced this year is that the promotion hasn’t been Dana White’s priority, with the UFC CEO spinning several other plates at the same time.
On June 25, the MMA leader will take a considerable step with their submission grappling plans, which White recently suggested could potentially include some celebrity involvement in the future.
Dana White open to featuring showcase matches with celebrities in UFC BJJ
UFC BJJ 1, the promotion’s first event since unveiling its plans to expand its activity in submission grappling, is set to take place on June 25.
The first event will see the first UFC BJJ champions be crowned when former ONE Championship star Mikey Musumeci takes on Rerisson Gabriel for the bantamweight belt, with the lightweight and welterweight titles also up for grabs.
Dana White believes that UFC BJJ can replicate the success they’ve had in MMA by implementing many of the same practices, whether it’s through a reality TV series to get fans invested, rankings or simply giving people the matchups they want to see.
Though he told TMZ Sports about turning UFC BJJ into a promotion in the grappling world that carries the same prestige as its MMA equivalent, White is also open to the idea of showcasing big names that aren’t necessarily the best of the best in the grappling world.
The UFC CEO named several celebrities, including Mark Zuckerberg and Tom Hardy, as two martial artists who could potentially compete on the platform.
“Let me tell you something, there’s a lot of other people out there, too,” White told TMZ. “There’s actors and athletes. You’d be surprised. Zuckerberg has competed in tournaments. Mario Lopez competes in tournaments. Tom Hardy competes in tournaments.
“This is a spot, anybody could come and compete here in jiu-jitsu… If Mark [Zuckerberg] keeps training and competing, he could literally come here and fight in UFC BJJ. 100 percent. Tom Hardy, Mario Lopez, and many, many other actors that are really good jiu-jitsu guys that nobody knows about.”
Dana White has been working alongside Mark Zuckerberg despite their initial crossover plans not coming to fruition
Dana White appeared to be a key figure in a potential fight between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk which became a huge talking point for several days.
Though any serious conversations about the fight taking place quickly fizzled out, the UFC and Meta CEOs have continued to work with one another.
Having watched several UFC events alongside one another, their relationship climbed to another level when White was appointed to Meta’s board of directors.
This past April, the UFC announced a multiyear partnership with Meta, with social media platform Threads already becoming a regular fixture on UFC broadcasts.