“Any heavyweight who put themselves through ballet would be a better fighter,” Michael Jai White told Joe Rogan during the latest episode of the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast. The two martial arts experts discussed several cross-training cheats that fighters can use to improve their skills. They used White, Vasyl Lomachenko, and Rickson Gracie as examples of that kind of success.
Michael Jai White’s Ballet Cheat: Footwork Upgrade for Heavyweights
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(Photo by Dominique Charriau/WireImage)On February 18, 2026, Michael Jai White appeared on episode 2456 of the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast. During their conversation, White and Rogan discussed martial arts extensively. For example, White shared his belief that Wushu has made him a better fighter and that ballet training will improve any martial artist.
“Me, it is hard as hell to do Wushu against guys half my size. It’s a performance thing. If I can get down to the floor at my size. Well, then I’m better. So, if I want to kick you in the eyebrow, I can. It’s about having my body do what my mind’s telling it to. Of course, people want to dismiss it because, ‘Oh, that ain’t real.’ You can’t use it. Just like ballet is hard as hell. You can’t use that either. But anybody—any heavyweight who puts themselves through ballet would be a better fighter.”
In response to White’s comment about ballet, Rogan quickly agreed. The podcast host and fight expert then brought up Vasyl Lomachenko as an example of a widely respected fighter whose skills were improved thanks to dance training.
“Look at Lomachenko… His dad taught him Ukrainian dance. Lomachenko’s dad pulled him out of boxing for two years when he was young and said, ‘You’re just going to do Ukrainian dance.’ He’s like, ‘What the f**k am I doing?’ But look at that guy’s footwork.”
Joe Rogan Endorses Rickson Gracie’s Yoga Endurance Cheats
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(Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)While talking to Michael Jai White during the same episode of his podcast, Joe Rogan highlighted another example of cross-training that he believes can help fighters gain an edge. The host pointed to Rickson Gracie as someone who improved after embracing yoga, explaining that it aided in the his breath control and stamina.
“Another great example of cross-training, too. Rickson got really into yoga and everybody’s like, ‘What the f**k? You’re doing yoga?’ Like, ‘Yoga is for girls, right?’ Rickson got really into yoga and got super flexible and really good at controlling his breathing and never got tired.”
Track Motion Cheats That Gave Michael Jai White Fighting Edges
While most people don’t think of training in yoga and ballet as a way to sharpen fighting skills, their benefits for athletes across sports have been discussed before. That makes Michael Jai White’s comments on the “Joe Rogan Experience” about how track training helped him evolve as a fighter stand out as particularly eye-opening.
White told Rogan about becoming a track star in school, then explained why that training is surprisingly applicable for fighters.
“As a fluke, I jumped into a race against one of the fastest guys on the track team and beat him, right? And that was just a fluke. And the track coach saw that and was like, ‘Oh my god, you’re f*****g running for the school.’ I was like, “Oh, okay…” Incidentally, that’s the stuff that really kind of taught me to evolve my martial arts because nowhere is there a benefit of cutting off fractions of seconds in movement like track.”
White then went on to give practical examples of how learning to compete in track has long given him an edge as a martial artist.
“Like, when I’m doing the shot put, well, a lot of times I was competing against people that were ginormous, and all they had to do was stick their arm out, and their arc was going to be better than mine. Well, I had to generate enough power to go at a 45-degree angle , and handle inertia and all that to get past them. And with running, of course, if you shoot the gun off, all your motion has to go forward. If you go backward, you’re going to be a step behind everybody. So, as far as efficiency of motion, all the things I had to do with track, I started applying in fighting. And that’s what kind of gave me cheat codes into things where being super efficient really helped.”
This story was originally published by Men’s Journal on Feb 19, 2026, where it first appeared in the Health & Fitness section. Add Men’s Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.