by Christian Duque
Legendary Syrian Classic Physique Pro Michael Daboul was physically assaulted at a recent contest in the UK. Michael is an accomplished competitor known throughout the world for his very impressive placings. He is a past Arnold UK Champion but has also placed as high as top six at the Olympia, top five at the open Arnold, and has been a driving force in the division for many years. This is a seasoned veteran of the stage that has competed in many countries and countless shows. He brings a tremendous amount of passion and detail to his posing and this says a lot because this is a division that is a throwback to the Golden Era of the sport of bodybuilding. What’s also noteworthy is that he was not competing at the contest where he was assaulted rather he was there as an attendee.
There’s a lot to this story and there’s a lot of different ways we can try to get to the bottom of it so let’s try to go in parts. From what I gather Michael was there to support his partner and was merely posting to social media from the audience as so many other audience members do. That being said he does have a bit of a history with the promoter of this contest who by the way used to promote the Arnold UK until he was dismissed apparently because of issues that made the partnership not work out well.
But what issues did they have you might ask? Well as it turns out the promoter of this show had banned Michael in 2019 and then removed the ban allowing him to compete later on. Michael was in the audience posting about high ticket prices and how competitors should choose which division to watch and which division to compete in at this particular promoter show. Now mind you that’s not tantamount to trashing a contest, but it’s the kind of dissent that some promoters don’t take too kindly to. It should also be noted that this dissent did not come by way of a message board months out rather it was being posted at an actual time. Plus it wasn’t some random troll either. He was a well respected professional athlete who competed at the Olympia and the Arnold Classic. I can see where the promoter might have gotten butthurt about seeing posts like that. In any event what would happen next was completely unexpected and uncalled for.
As it turns out Michael continued watching the contest and stayed on top of social media but did not have any interactions with the promoter or security. Towards the end of the contest he wanted to go backstage to let his partner know where he was at and he says he asked security and security granted him access.
Now we are basing this on the reporting of Nick’s Strength And Power (NSP) who claims to have spoken to Michael and may have more information about the show. While some websites have covered it on their own this by no means has gone viral. So based on what we know the competitor asked permission to go backstage. That’s very important to the story, especially if it’s true because if he was granted permission then he had every right to be back there. We are not talking about someone that works in the media and definitely not somebody that works for the show. So gaining access the right way is absolutely critical to what happened next.
Now according to Michael he went backstage and at some point security told him he had to leave. What more than likely happened was that the initial security officer let him in based on the fact that he recognized him as a top professional athlete, however the promoter probably got tipped off to the post that Michael had published from the audience. Now while there’s nothing wrong with having your own opinion that does not mean the promoter necessarily has to open his doors to you. Your ticket price gets you a seat but even your ticket can be forfeited if the promoter deems your presence to be against his wishes.
There’s a lot of misconception about what buying a ticket actually entails. Now I’m not directing this at the athlete in question but rather at the fans. For example if a promoter says no photography allowed from the audience or no photography allowed besides iPhones that does not mean you can buy a ticket and ignore that directive. it’s the same as it applies to smoking or soliciting business. When you buy a ticket, that gets you a seat but that’s all it gets you. And buying a ticket does not give you a right to get a seat, it simply gives you a privilege to get a seat.
The competitor was not thrown out of the show. The competitor was thrown out of the backstage area. This is also important. Again I’m not taking the promoter’s side I am just merely stating that the promoter is not under any obligation to give a ticket-buyer backstage access. And even if he was in the media, the promoter could suspend that media credential at the snap of his fingers. What probably happened was the initial security guard let him in because he didn’t know the backstory. Once the promoter got wind out of the posts and realized that the competitor in question was backstage he probably had his security people throw him out. This has happened to the best of us. Sometimes promoters have mood swings and it’s just part of bodybuilding. What is not part of bodybuilding is putting hands on a person.
Now I know that Nick Miller has put a tremendous amount of emphasis on the fact that two of the security people got arrested but an arrest does not mean guilt. All it means is that the police have two stories and believe one a little bit more than the other. Without definitive proof we really don’t know what happened and those arrested may be as innocent as everyone thinks the competitor is. Or they may be guilty as sin. I personally have a hard time believing that a promoter would order security people to jump a competitor for some rather innocent Instagram posts, but that is the narrative that is being proposed to us by many bodybuilding outlets.
The reason that I talk about it before talking about what may or may not have happened is because I want the readers of Iron Magazine to know that we are critical of everyone competitors, other media outlets, even the government. We like to be objective-minded and to do that we have to ask all of the questions that a lot of the other media outlets simply do not want to ask, questions that might make it seem like we are against the athlete when in reality we are against no one. We are simply trying to get to the bottom of the story. And the story has to make sense. Because generally in life if something doesn’t make sense it didn’t happen that way.
Now according to Michael once backstage he made contact with four security people that said he had to go and at some point in the story from what he told Nick Miller he flipped them off. He also told Nick that he was no angel but didn’t really elaborate. What we know is that after the interaction the competitor had, according to him, two broken ribs, a nearly broken nose, and black eyes. From the picture that we have seen that has gone somewhat viral we can definitely see that he took a beating. Now what we don’t know is if he threw any punches or what the security people look like. The idea that four guys went to task on him backstage would suggest far more substantial injuries than what he sustained, but we don’t know exactly how ferocious the beating was or if it perhaps was a situation of mutual combat.
I will tell you that it sounds like Michael may have provoked somewhat of the incident by flipping them off. Backstage, security runs everything; that’s just how it works. Now if security threw him out on a whim that would be something but it seems more like the promoter wanted him gone. Normally when security asks you to leave you leave – that’s it. Sometimes it might take you a minute like with Dave Palumbo at the Nationals but you do leave. If this guy flipped them off and didn’t budge at all then perhaps they had to help him out and perhaps in that effort somebody punched somebody.
As it turned out the competitor has stated that he will be pressing charges which suggests that he would have clean hands in the matter. It might also suggest that he is merely stating that for the press to appear as if he was the innocent party. It is interesting though that only two out of the four security people were arrested. Did the other two abscond or did the police find that they did nothing wrong? We also don’t know if the two security guards that were arrested or the four security guards total would be pressing charges on the competitor.
Again we don’t know if the security people took any injuries or not. It should also be noted that most of the people that work a bodybuilding show are bodybuilders themselves. What I mean by this is that the security people may very well have been competitors themselves, only they weren’t competing that day. If in fact the promoter put them up to it, I’m sure that the two that were arrested are not going to suffer getting criminal charges on their record simply for doing what a promoter at a bodybuilding show who’s probably paying them the equivalent of $100 told them to do. I also can’t imagine that they would have done it to begin with. It seems like an awfully risky move for very little benefit.
Plus, most promoters I don’t think would be stupid enough to put their contest on the line simply to get rid of somebody that put up some questionable social media posts. You have to understand promoters pay a lot of money for insurance and an event like this could easily compromise the whole venture. They have the venue to think about, vendors, competitors and audience members. If the promoter was truly behind this there’s a very good chance that the venue will never rent him a hall again. This puts him as a businessman in a severe disadvantage because now he has to find a new place to host the show the next time around. He may also be legally in trouble because he could be charged as an accessory or as part of a conspiracy.
Again it seems a little bit much to believe given just a few Instagram posts talking about the price of tickets and the price to compete. Also the fact that the comments were made in real time might actually be better than if they were made months out on a message board. The people that were there had already bought their tickets and the vendors had already paid their money so I can’t really imagine how much damage a few Instagram posts would have done anyways. I’m not saying that the security people weren’t wrong and I’m not saying they were right I’m just saying I cannot jump right behind the competitor at this point in time because a lot of what is being served up as the news doesn’t make any sense.
I do tend to side with the Federation and their stance which is one of wait and see. What they have said is that they don’t want competitors to feel unsafe at shows and essentially imply that they are going to get to the bottom of it. That is precisely what I am trying to do here at IM. I don’t know that I necessarily want to jump on the bandwagon with NSP even if he claims well over a million subscribers on YouTube.
I’m sure much of the bodybuilding media will also rally behind the competitor and condemn the promoter with perhaps only a handful of the details. Again everything we are basing what we know is on what Nick Miller reported and Nick Miller is basing everything that he knows by his own admission on what the competitor told him. You can hardly call that news. This is why what I do here falls more in the category of commentary than anything else. For me at the present time a lot of this doesn’t make any sense. I see a competitor that’s been banged up a little bit and I want to know what happened. Also the fact that Nick thought it wise to include that the promoter is shady and/or that the promoter has questionable business practices really might help to lay down some foundation but at the end of the day if the competitor was the one to blame then the promoter just got beaten up in the world of public opinion for no reason. I’m not criticizing Nick’s reporting, I’m just saying that I cannot get behind it at this point in time.
With regard to what may happen in court, that’s anyone’s guess. I would be curious to see what the security people were arrested for and whether or not the state will proceed with charges. I think this is the kind of case that’s going to get resolved outside of court. If the promoter did have anything to do with this, then I suspect he will settle with the competitor. If the competitor had anything to do with this, then I suspect both parties will probably drop the charges on each other. I am very curious to see what the security people look like and what damage, if any, the competitor laid on them. I just can’t imagine him standing there taking a beating with his hands at his sides. Again, very little of this makes sense to me. What say you?
