‘Cobra Kai’ Cast Reacts to Rayna Vallandingham’s Fierce SI Swimsuit Debut

The 22-year-old mixed martial artist and actress brought her A-game to Jamaica for her first-ever SI Swimsuit shoot.

Rayna Vallandingham / Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Athlete-actress Rayna Vallandingham, who reached child prodigy status in mixed martial arts when becoming the youngest black belt Tae Kwon Do world champion at the age of 8, joins SI Swimsuit for the 2025 issue. The incredible trailblazer has accomplished a lot at a young age, but she isn’t settling anytime soon. Over the years, she’s also pursued acting, passionate about serving as a face for Indian-American representation in the action genre.

And her newest project does just that. The Southern California native joined the cast of Netflix’s Cobra Kai for its sixth and final season, which was split up into three parts. Vallangingham first appeared in Part 2 as the new character Zara Malik, co-captain of opposing dojo Iron Dragons. Though she’s a new character, she certainly makes an impression as a force to be reckoned with in the world of karate. She also forms a relationship with Robby Keene (Tanner Buchanan).

On Tuesday, SI Swimsuit officially announced Vallandingham’s debut, sharing the first official image from her photo shoot with Yu Tsai. We’ll be waiting until closer to the 2025 issue’s release in May to see her full gallery of pics, but the tease we got this week will definitely hold us over. She looks undeniably fierce and gorgeous.

And we’re not the only ones who think so. The photo, shared on the SI Swimsuit Instagram page, has hundreds of comments complimenting the impressive mixed martial artist. Among the many responses included some of Vallandingham’s Cobra Kai co-stars who were excited about her new venture.

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“jaw on the FLOOR,” Peyton List, who plays Tory Nichols, commented.

“🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶,” Kim Da-Eun actress Alicia Hannah-Kim wrote.

“YESSS RAYNA!” Oona O’Brien, who plays Devon Lee, excitedly added.

Fans of the Netflix comedy dropped in GIFs from the show to add their support.

Part 3 of Cobra Kai Season 6, which marks the final five episodes of the series, will be released on Thursday, Feb. 13. The beloved Karate Kid spinoff show started as a YouTube Red (now called YouTube Premium) project before being acquired by Netflix who produced seasons 3 through 6. Over the years, it’s been nominated for nine Emmy Awards and has become one of the streamer’s most popular action-comedies.

Acting in an action series, particularly where she gets to do some of her own stunts, is game-changing for Vallandingham. “I found my passion for martial arts at two years old, and for acting at eight. From that point on, I knew I wanted to be an action star and persisted through the next 12 years of auditioning and constant ‘No’s,’” she recently told Numéro Netherlands. “On my 20th birthday, my agents called me and told me I had booked Cobra Kai, and ever since then, it’s been such a beautiful journey of watching my dreams come true right before my eyes. The opportunity has made all of those years of rejection completely and utterly worth it. When I’m on set, doing my own stunts and acting, it feels like that is exactly where I’m supposed to be, and this is just the first year of it all.”

Don’t miss the conclusion of Cobra Kai tomorrow.