Football
From his college days, Anders loved playing football. After moving to Texas, he started playing football for Smithson Valley High School. He won a lot of games in his senior year of playing. From 2006-2009, Anders was doing great at the University of Alabama. He even signed a contract with Cleveland Browns as a free agent for the NFL. However, he didn’t want to make football his life-long career. Eryk loved football, but it was not something he had wanted to do all his life.

Boxing Career | Mixed Martial Arts

Anders was a football player, yet was confused about what he wanted to do in life. Then, Eryk decided to begin a career in mixed martial arts. He started his career as an amateur in 2012. Before making his professional debut in 2015, he won 22 MMA amateur fights. Anders’s first match was against Josh Rasberry for Strike Hard Production. Amazingly, Eryk won that match in just 40 seconds.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Eryk made his octagon debut in 2017 and has won 13 games (8 by knockout, one by submission, and four by decision) so far. Anders face Rafael Natal in his first match and eventually won. Rafael withdrew from the match due to a neck injury, and Anders won the game by knockout. That was Ander’s first match in UFC and his first victory as well. There has been no looking back for Eryk after that, plus he has won several games. However, Anders feels he is better than his record portrays him. Recently, Anders has not been performing well, and he feels he can perform much better. Consequently, he is waiting for that one opportunity to prove himself.

Acting Career

No, your eyes weren’t deceiving you early 2022 when you binge watched Cobra Kai and saw Eryk Anders battling it out with Johnny Lawrence. It was the middleweight standout making his acting debut in one of Netflix’s most popular series. And it may not be the last time we see “Ya Boi” breaking out his acting. “I would love those opportunities to keep showing up.” said Anders. “The UFC’s opened doors for me for future endeavors past fighting, and the sun is setting on my career, so I’m always looking for the next thing to better myself or challenge myself, keep pivoting. The acting thing kind of fell into my lap, so I’m pursuing it to see how far I can go.”