by Christian Duque
Bodybuilding fans can take a tremendous sigh of relief and knowing that their reigning Mr Olympia is most definitely coming to Las Vegas for battle. Whether you are a Samson Dauda fan or you simply are a fan of the sport, then I’d like to clue you into his recent guest opposing appearance in Romania. Now, many of us were left with somewhat bitter taste in our mouth from the champ’s guest posing appearance in the United Kingdom back in early July. For that guest posing appearance he didn’t look very impressive at all.
Now mind you, he did compete at the Arnold Classic earlier in the year and took a shocking second place to Derek Lunsford. Many of us thought that his reign was going to be dashed as a result of that loss, but he has really impressed everyone since. He was able to roll up his sleeves and brush off the loss and has been – by far – one of the most active title holders in recent memory. That being said he does do a lot of guest posing appearances and he also does a lot of seminars and presentations. To say that he is out in the limelight would be an understatement.
Samson continues to showcase his physique on social media, bodybuilding stages, and sometimes in impromptu posing sessions at local gyms. The reality of the matter is he has developed a statuesque look and one that is very appealing to many bodybuilding fans around the world. I know myself that I find his look to be a breath of fresh air. I would absolutely hate it if we had to crown Nick Walker or that type of bodybuilder as the best in the world because not only would it do damage to the title but now every bodybuilder looking to be the next Mr O will have to be a better version of Nick Walker than even Nick Walker. And that is not a look that I think is going to help bodybuilding grow in any way, shape, or form. So what was so good about Dauda’s recent guest posing appearance in Romania?
Well for starters, Samson looked a heck of a lot more impressive than he did in the United Kingdom about 6 weeks ago. Now for you math majors out there, in the United Kingdom he was 12 weeks out from the O. Currently he is about 6 weeks out so in that six week period he has been able to make some dramatic improvements. Although he looks quite flat on the videos that I have seen, you cannot deny some telltale factors that the champ is definitely doing his homework. He is not sitting around, he is not resting on his laurels. He is definitely doing the business of bodybuilding. And what I appreciate about these guest posing appearances and his constant updates on social media is that he’s not trying to hide. Nick Walker, on the other hand, put out his last Instagram update quite a while ago and has hunkered down as is the traditional process.
Samson has broken with that long-standing norm and has kept the fans and the media up to date on what is going on with him and his physique. He has also added more stress onto himself because he understands that the bodybuilding press and the bodybuilding fans will react without filter if he’s off. The champ knows he had better be on the path to successfully defending that title or he’ll never hear the end of it.
Now one look from this guest posing appearance and I have to say that the confidence is there. Before we talk about anything related to his physique, I think that confidence is very important. I have written many articles, dozens maybe even hundreds, where I talk about the importance of posing hard, the importance of taking the stage like a champion, and the importance of having the right mindset. It doesn’t matter what your physique looks like, if your mind is not in the game, you are not going to win. And from what I gather from this recent guest posing appearance and the poses that he decided to hit, it’s that Samson is definitely firing on all cylinders – both physically and mentally. He hit a lot of floor poses, a lot of classic poses, he really worked the room as only a Mr Olympia can. And what I really liked about this presentation is the fact that we saw a lot of tightness. We saw the champ tighten his waist, show very strong abs, and show absolutely no distention. Look at Nick Walker and tell me that that is the kind of midsection you want for the top champion in the world to have. I will be honest with you, every Mr Olympia needs to have a tight waist and a tight midsection. Of course they have to breathe and relax a bit, but do we want to see bubble guts on stage? Do we want to see guys that cannot control their midsections? Do we want to see guys that really don’t have ripped washboard abs? Again, we’re talking about the greatest bodybuilder on the planet so if they cannot showcase these attributes, then is it really a physique-based sport? Or is it just a contest about who is bigger and who weighs more?
I love the fact that we have a reigning Mr Olympia that can hit a vacuum pose in all of its glory. It’s not just that Samson has a tight midsection and that Samson has washboard abs, but it’s also that Samson understands how to contract the muscle and how to hold classic poses that many Olympia champions in recent memory have only been able to dream of. A lot of top bodybuilders will tell you that if you want to see a vacuum pose you had better go to a classic physique competition. And that is probably the worst way to think possible.
Bodybuilders need to be able to hit every pose that any other division can hit and they must be able to hit them better. Bodybuilding is the flagship division. Bodybuilding is what started at all. Bodybuilding should not have competitors that cannot hit basic poses because they’re too big or because they can’t control or contract their muscles. That’s a travesty!!
Although Samson does look flat in the posing, remember that there are six weeks left. What I love about this update/ appearance is that we can see a much drier version than we did in the United Kingdom. I like that we don’t see a gut. I like that the champ is in good spirits and is posing in such a way that separates him from the pack. Not only do I believe that he can successfully defend his title, but I think that he can hold Derek off. Despite the fact that Derek pulled the upset in Columbus, that was then and the Olympia is coming up. Whatever happened in Columbus – stays in Columbus. It will have no bearing on what happens in Vegas.
Hadi, on the other hand, does seem to be a little bit more impressive with regards to his condition, but he lacks the structure that Samson has. He also lacks the flowing muscles and the symmetry. In the end one guy is an ankle biter and the other guy is built like a Greek god. I don’t think that even a super-conditioned Hadi defeats a 100% dialed in Samson Dauda.
But again that’s where the subjectiveness of the sport comes into play. and other factors as well, so many that we can’t even begin to list here. All in all, I don’t see Nick Walker coming anywhere close if Samson Dauda brings a much better version of what we saw in Romania just a few days ago. And by “much better,” I want to qualify that. 6 weeks of progress on top of what we just saw, means nobody touches Samson Dauda as Mr Olympia.
But what say you? Does Samson have enough to hold back Derek, Hadi, Nick Walker?
