Samson Dauda was unable to defend his 2024 Mr Olympia title this year, instead suffering a significant drop to fourth place. Yet, rather than blaming others, the ‘Nigerian Lion’ has shown himself to be a true champion in reflecting on what went wrong, and it seems there is plenty of potential on the horizon.
Dauda surprised many critics last year when he defeated Derek Lunsford and Hadi Choopan to win the Mr. Olympia of 2024, but observers quickly questioned whether he could retain the trophy, with some pointing to the fact he had relinquished the services of coach Milos Sarcev and others saying his stomach was too big.
In an effort to alleviate these concerns, Dauda doubled down on his training and worked hard on his fitness so he could bring an unbeatable package to Las Vegas. Ultimately, though, hope turned to heartbreak as the champion not only lost his title to Derek Lunsford, but also dropped to fourth place in the process. But instead of throwing a tantrum or pointing the finger at the judges, the bodybuilder showed great integrity in identifying his failed strategy in his attempt to score a consecutive victory.
Samson Dauda explains his failed 2025 Olympia strategy
“I don’t like to talk a lot about what happened, or anything, but I just want to say this,” Dauda said in a video shared by Beyond The Stage TV. “We’ve pushed conditioning more than ever before,” he explained. “We went all the way into it, went deep into it, and we just underestimated how long it would take to fill it all in, and that was basically it,” he admitted with the courage of a true champion.
When Samson Dauda says “us,” he is of course referring to his loving wife and coach, Merlena, who was with him every step of his tremendous preparation. “You know, we’ve never taken the conditioning this deep before, and I’m just trying to fill out my physique again, because I’m such a big guy, I mean I’m well over 300 pounds,” he explained. “You can imagine how damn disappointed I feel after that, but that’s basically it, and it’s just the simple point of it. Yeah, it sucked. It sucks.”
Although Dauda didn’t have a winning physique that night at Resorts World, he was praised by fans for his posing routine that showed off the fitness and endurance gains he had really made in the run-up to the final. If the big man can combine this level of conditioning with more muscle mass, the former champion could one day regain the title of Mr Olympia in epic fashion.
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