by Christian Duque
Over the course of the last ten years we’ve had the opportunity to see how several men take to being the best bodybuilder in the world. Unlike the 80’s, 90’s, and 2000’s, where one champion ruled most of each decade, the sport has been able to see how several different guys held the title over the last ten years. If we go back exactly one decade ago, we’d be in 2015. At that point, the sport had Phil Heath. Phil emerged from the Jay and Ronnie eras to herald in something purportedly new. That said, he continued the ages old approach of being a road warrior!
For Heath, Cutler wasn’t just his predecessor, but he was a dear friend and mentor. They came up together in many ways and shared time as being part of the MuscleTech brand. MT was the premier supplement line paying huge contracts to guys like Jay, Phil, Gustavo, Dexter and others. Those others included Branch Warren, Johnny Jackson, even as far back as Gregg Kovacs. MuscleTech had a roster of huge stars and they paid them very well.
As a result, Phil emulated what guys before had done. He saw what worked and at least in that regard, he didn’t let his ego mess up a good thing. Guys like Jay, Ronnie, and. Phil hit the ground running and made it a point to visit the world. After Phil, the sport had Rhoden. He had every intention of carrying the torch in similar fashion, but we all know what happened to him. It was an injustice and he was basically put on the shelf. Forget innocent until proven guilty, he was sidelined immediately by the sport he loved so dearly. Shawn was heartbroken. The next Mr O, Brandon Curry carried on. The Prodigy seemed to continue from where Heath left off. And then…, then things went sideways.
Big Ramy was not as good of an ambassador as previous Mr O’s. Some said to give him time – from a few weeks to a few months. He never changed. It had been nearly a decade since he won his first NY Pro. He nearly won the O in 2017, taking 2nd to Heath, but fell short. By the time he won the title against Curry, he had lost considerable steam. Once he hoisted the Sandow in the air, there were big expectations for what he’d do as champion. Many of us thought, perhaps naively, that he would tour the world. Fan anticipation grew all throughout. Fans in Europe, Asia, and elsewhere believed that because Ramy was from the Middle East that he would surely tour parts of the world that were often ignored. It became abundantly clear within a short amount of time that Ramy was a throwback to Dorian. He didn’t travel the world, he wasn’t active on social media, and he didn’t really do much of anything. What little he did do, was reserved for Egypt. So out of over 140 countries in the world, he focused on one. And no offense to Egypt, but Egypt is not the country that’s the driving force of the sport. That would be the United States.
The sport was led by Ramy for two years, if you can call it that. Basically, the fans were left scrambling to find a leader. It didn’t help matters that the world was living during the pandemic. Covid 19 wreaked havoc on the sport and for the first time in history, the Olympia changed venues at the eleventh hour. Florida seemed to be a state where the event could exist without the fear of the heavy restrictions experienced in Nevada. The Arnold Classic, also, changed venues as it was nearly cancelled in 2020 in Columbus.
When the sport needed a leader more than ever, it got stuck with a hermit like Ramy. 2021 wasn’t much better. But in that year, Ramy did the unthinkable by snubbing the President. Not only was he featured on the Pittsburgh Pro contest poster, but he failed to show up, and didn’t provide any sort of an explanation for 10 days. TEN DAYS!! That was a first – and only – in the sport of bodybuilding. Just a few months later Ramy would lose the title. And who did he lose it to? He lost it to another hermit, in Hadi Choopan.
Hadi held the title for just one year, and was even worse than his predecessor when it came to growing the sport. Although Egypt was out of sight and out of mind for most bodybuilding fans, Iran might as well have been on another planet. Iran and North Korea are basically hermit kingdoms when it comes to the West. At least most fans could travel to Egypt if they wanted to, but Iran? And at least in Egypt they speak Arabic, a language spoken throughout the Arab world. In Iran, they speak Farsi, and that’s the only country that speaks it. I’m not trying to throw shade at Iran or Egypt or any one particular country, but bodybuilding is an international sport. It’s not just for one country, but that’s not even accurate, because it’s not like Hadi was touring Iran extensively or Ramy was touring Egypt extensively, either. They weren’t doing anything.
Once Hadi was defeated, the title went to Derek Lunsford. Derek was a throwback to Brandon and Phil. He really promoted the sport throughout the United States, and North America as a whole. The fact that Derek is American and commands the English language was also very helpful. Even though many countries around the world don’t speak English as a first language, English has become one of the most international languages on the planet. Following Derek, Samson Dauda, our current Mr O won the title. And it meant more good news for bodybuilding.
Samson Dauda has gone even farther for the sport than Derek because he has traveled to more countries than any Mr O in recent memory. And THAT is what being the sport’s ambassador to the world is all about. While I give major kudos to any Mr O that maintains an active social media and keeps strong links to the fans, traveling is second to none. When the top guy travels and is seen in real time by the fans, that’s the secret weapon. It’s one thing to see your favorite athlete on an IG LIVE or maybe pushing a shopping cart around the supermarket on YouTube, but it’s quite another to know that Mr Olympia is guestposing in your city. It’s rad knowing that Mr Olympia will be training at the same gym you go to 5x a week.
Imagine being a bodybuilding fan in Croatia, Peru, or Japan, and seeing Samson out and about buying lunch, signing autographs at a supplement or shop, or sunbathing at a local hotel pool. That connection is key. It sends a strong vibe to the residents of that city that they matter. It creates a bond that makes everyone in that city feel like they’re on the proverbial map.
Guys like Dorian were hermits in the pre-internet age. And the fans back then didn’t dig it. Many fans were annoyed that The Shadow would only be seen for a few days a year. He’d show up, compete, get paid and disappear. If you wanted to see him, you had to buy the magazines. And the fans who were really in the know, knew those articles were probably ghostwritten. The writers were great, but they didn’t sound like Yates. The other option was to buy Dorian’s VHS or DVD. Then you had the chance to watch Yates train in some dungeon somewhere, but that was about it. As I said, Dorian’s approach rubbed many fans the wrong way in the 90s, but imagine Dorian’s approach in 2020, 2021, and 2022. Imagine being out of sight and out of mind when 99% of bodybuilding fans had smartphones and had nothing to look at. And imagine that boredom stacked upon the extreme isolation of the Covid19 days. I could go on and on.
Samson Dauda has the physique and the work ethic, but more importantly for this article, he’s absolutely killing it in terms of growing the sport. Even after taking a shocking second place to Derek in Columbus, that didn’t stop Dauda. He has only intensified his international travel and further strengthened his connection to the fans. I have to say, I wasn’t expecting that. Dauda has really impressed me on this front and I can only imagine how many new fans he’s brought to the sport. Samson is an even better ambassador than Lunsford, Curry, and actually gives Heath’s tenure a run for its money. Phil was very unpleasant when he was on top, he couldn’t process criticism, and he never lost. All Phil did was win. Samson is the humble, hardworking champion we all want to love. All in all, the reigning champion is doing a phenomenal job.
What’s your take on Samson’s tenure thus far and his predecessors? It’s just July and Samson has already visited more countries than Ramy and Hadi combined in their collective three years of holding down the top title. What do you think Dauda would be able to accomplish should he successfully defend his title in 2025?
As always, thank you for taking the time to read my article, here, at IronMag. I look forward to reading your feedback in the comments. Please be sure to copy and paste a link to this story on all your social media feeds. It’s sure to generate considerable conversation.
