Samson Dauda emerged as a surprising Mr. Olympia Men’s Physique contender this year. The 5’11 jacked giant towered over the top 2 competitors, Derek Lunsford and Hadi Choopan, as he bagged third place for the title. Despite the disappointment, Dauda surprised many bodybuilding enthusiasts with his improved physique. And now, with Arnold Classic in tow, elite bodybuilders Dennis James, Milos Sarcev, Dexter Jackson, and Chris Cormier pondered over his prep.
Featuring in ‘The Menace Podcast’ hosted by James, the experts talked about Dauda’s performance at the Olympia and where he stood overall. When Cormier wondered if the Nigerian truly leveled up, Sarcev, being his coach, provided some insights:
“He realizes himself that yeah, you know, getting tighter and tighter made him look better and better.”
Cormier even recalled “begging” Dauda to increase his conditioning to ace at the Olympia. And ‘The Nigerian Lion’ took it seriously. The 56-year-old observed:
“A lot of people was bringing up the fact that he need to improve his back. I think he just totally like took that to heart.”
Despite this, all the guests agreed that Dauda still had a long way to go if he intended to beat the top two. While his back looked incredibly shredded, along with the perfect striations along his biceps, he needed some fine-tuning. James stressed that, with his size, all he needed was more conditioning to rank up.
“I think Samson should understand now that these two guys Hadi and Derek, he didn’t beat even though he was much bigger, that has to beat the condition. So he has to bring the condition you know and other than that, I don’t think he has to do anything else”
Now that the Olympia is over, Dauda has time to prepare for upcoming championships and improve his physique. However, this year’s battle for the Sandow did not go down without a huge commotion among fans and bodybuilders alike.
While Samson Dauda bagged third place, what went down with the gold and silver ranks?
Cheers and celebrations surrounded Derek Lunsford as he received the Mr. Olympia 2023 title. But the win was immediately overshadowed by dozens of fans who spoke up for last year’s champion, Hadi Choopan. Many felt the Iranian bodybuilder was robbed, as he leveled up his conditioning from last year.
View this post on Instagram
What started as an on-stage battle between two bodybuilders under the same coach soon turned into an internet war among fans. Both Choopan and Lunsford had to issue statements highlighting that they had no bad blood between them and requesting fans to turn down the negativity. Currently, rumors of the Iranian bodybuilder intending to participate in the Arnold Classic are floating around. And if that were to happen, Dauda would have to amp up his physique game.
