With the 2023 Mr. Olympia giving us some strong and hefty contenders for the Arnold Classic 2024, elite bodybuilders are banking on their favorites. One of them is Samson Dauda.
In the recent Menace Podcast, former bodybuilding icons Dennis James, Milos Sarcev, and Chris Cormier sat down with Nick Walker to talk about the upcoming Arnold Classic. With a lot of debate surrounding Dauda’s physique and participation, the elites debated on how his conditioning should change, now that he’s up against last year’s Mr. Olympia Hadi Choopan.
The consensus for months has been how Dauda needs more conditioning and definition. Since he already has a good size, standing at around 300 lbs, chiseling down was necessary to stand shoulder to shoulder against his competitors. However, James brought up an important concern in this opinion:
“What does he have to do in order to get in that condition? Would he have to lose 20-30 pounds who knows? Would he still be that 300 pound Samson at the end?”
While Sarcev still felt that losing a certain amount of weight was crucial for Dauda’s physique, he couldn’t help but reminisce about the 5’11 icon’s Prague Pro win. The conditioning back then was unmatched.
“Hadi is competing at the Arnold Classic, he’s going to have to be similarly conditioned. He didn’t beat Hadi twice already you know. He’s not going to beat him again unless he brings something new”
However, the elites reached a point of disagreement on how Dauda should go about achieving that conditioning. While Sarcev maintained that a strict diet was the key, James disagreed.
“If I was Samson, I would not try to suffer more in the diet I would just add more cardio and see where that takes me”
This wasn’t the first time that these elite pros had advice for Dauda to ace the Arnold Classic. Previously, they dug through various icons to unearth another champion that could go head-to-head against the Nigerian Lion.
Who could threaten Samson Dauda at the Arnold Classic 2024?
Rubiel Mosquera also called the ‘Neckzilla’ owing to his large neck, has grabbed the attention of many elite bodybuilders for his potential. Having recently turned pro, the icon has climbed up the ladder of popularity with his insane conditioning for a newbie.
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Previously, James, Sarcev, and Cormier expressed their opinion on where Mosquera stood, when compared to an older pro like Dauda. Turns out, all three of them agreed that while the Neckzilla had a long way to go, he definitely could come in strong if he achieved the appropriate conditioning. In fact, he could easily be a threat to Dauda, owing to their large sizes and potential. Whether or not that will happen at the Arnold Classic 2024, only time will tell.
