Sports are bad for you, if you play them at an elite level. If you swim, shoulders pay, run the knees pay. Contact sports bring the potential injury to a disturbing new level, based on the growing body of knowledge around CTE. American Football has particularly come under scrutiny following the NFL concussion scandal.
UFC light heavyweight Eryk ‘Ya Boy’ Anders was a starting linebacker for the Alabama Crimson Tide, from 2006-2009. He signed a free agent contract with the Cleveland Browns and had stints in the Canadian Football League and the Arena Football League before starting MMA in 2012. He’s now 10-0 and 2-0 in the UFC.
During a recent appearance on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, Anders compared the danger of football and MMA.
I enjoy and love MMA much more than I ever did football, but at the same time it’s also kind of part of the reason why I’m moving up so fast, said Anders, as transcribed by Alexander K. Lee for MMA Fighting. I already had the built-in fan base when I got into the sport. A lot of supporting fans all over the country that love the Tide. Football has been good to me.
Football is way more dangerous than MMA. Even if you get knocked out in MMA, it’s just one time, then you get up, you take a couple of months off, let your body heal. In football, you may not get knocked out, but you’re constantly getting hit, getting hit, getting hit, especially if you play that D line, linebacker, running back, offensive line position. Every play it’s a collision and your body doesn’t appreciate that.
You see guys at 30 years old, their career is done just because of all the hits, all the contact. Just look at the shelf life of the average NFL player, three to five years if you’re lucky; MMA guys, they can play for much longer as long as they’re not one of those guys who play with their hands down and just chuck for the fences and take it to give it.
This is the best my body has felt since I started playing football. We train pretty intelligently at the gym that I train at in Birmingham, Spartan Fitness. We only train once or twice a week. A lot of drilling, not really damaging my body.
Football, it’s a collision every play. Car wreck, every play. But now my body, I don’t have to lift all those weights and eat all that food, it’s kind of the opposite. When I was in college, my back always hurt, my knees always hurt from bearing all the weight and hits and whatnot, but now that I’m doing MMA, my body’s never felt better. I’m walking around at more of a natural weight, my diet’s much better and the way we train I can go forever if I wanted to.
Eryk Anders fights Lyoto Machida in the main event of UFC Fight Night 125 on February 3, 2018 in Belem, Brazil.
