by Christian Duque
This is great news for the sport of bodybuilding and fitness. For the last few days so many of us have been sitting on the edge of our seats, waiting with great anticipation to see whether or not Hadi Choopan would be able to get a visa to travel to the United States to compete in the Super Bowl of Bodybuilding, the Mr Olympia in Las Vegas, Nevada. But we just didn’t know. We can’t forget the fact that Hadi hails from Iran and Iran is one of the few countries that we have pretty much no political relationship with.
Plus there was a war a few months ago. Now granted the war only lasted a couple of days, but nonetheless we were really concerned with whether or not Hadi would be able to get a visa to compete. Could you imagine what that would have done to the sport If he would not have been able to have competed? I mean a lot of people still don’t believe that he lost the title back in 2022 but then to not be able to compete in 2025 would have been almost sacrilege because the reality of the matter is a lot of people believe that he can win the title back.
In over 50 years of Olympia history, only one man has been able to win it back. And that was Jay Cutler back in 2009. Since then, before then, nobody has ever been able to make that tremendous accomplishment. Look at Big Ramy. He has been pretty much written off after he lost the Olympia. He didn’t quite get the memo so he tried his hand in Columbus a few months later and got his ass handed to him again. But we won’t talk about him because I believe there’s some politics involved with that individual but then you look at guys like Brandon Curry or Phil Heath, those guys are beloved, but nonetheless they can’t seem to get their titles back. So can Hadi Choopan be that second exception? Well imagine if he wouldn’t have been able to get a visa? Thankfully that wasn’t the case, and he’s quite frankly looking like he could win it again.
With regards to Hadi Choopan, seeing him train these last few weeks and also seeing the progress, and seeing what he looks like right now in Las Vegas I have to say that it’s looking pretty good for him. The problem with another Hadi Choopan victory at the Olympia is that we’re going to backtrack. In other words we’re going to regress as a sport because between Hadi Choopan and Big Ramy we had probably one of the most dormant periods in bodybuilding history since maybe the 1990s. I mean these two competitors, these two champions, I should say are top 10 or higher. And I will be hard-pressed to find many guest posing appearances, expo appearances, or even gym appearances that these guys may have done during 3 years of holding the top title. I guess what I am trying to say here is that while Hadi Choopan looks like he could win the title and I certainly want the title to be a merit-based situation, I think the sport would not benefit by having another dormant Mr. Olympia. I mean Hadi didn’t do anything. He didn’t grow the sport at all. He focused on Iran. Who the hell cares about Iran? Please pardon my unabashed candor but I’m just being honest with you here. Anybody that holds the Mr Olympia title needs to be active in bodybuilding in the United States of America and then everywhere else.
I know that sounds so arrogant for me to say but in a very real way the United States is the be all and end all of bodybuilding. I, for one, believe this is the reason why Olympia never left the country. I mean there was a period where the Olympia was in a different country every year but that hasn’t happened in over two decades. And I believe that’s because bodybuilding is so popular here. We have more shows than any country in the world, we have more pros than any country in the world, and it only stands to reason that if you’re going to promote the sport you have to be active with the sport in the USA. And Hadi Choopan doing stuff in Iran wasn’t helping to grow the sport. Big Ramy holding on to the title for 2 years but never doing very much the United States didn’t grow the sport either. In his case he was on television and he was working on movies – but in Egypt. And the movies were in Arabic. Again, you have to understand your audience if you’re going to be on top and I don’t think Big Ramy ever really did and I don’t think Hadi Choopan does either. These are great bodybuilders and they should be celebrated for their gains, their symmetry and their posing, but that’s not enough to win. I’m sorry, but it’s just not.
I don’t want to talk about politics or conspiracy theories but I believe that Hadi Choopan needs to show us that he’s going to be a far more active Mr Olympia if he wins the title back than when he held the Olympia before. I mean he’s up against some pretty stiff competition with Samson, Nick Walker, Derek of course, Martin, and others. This is not going to be any kind of cake walk, but I have to give credit where credit is due.
Hadi Choopan is looking insane. His wheels are out of this world, his midsection is tight, his abs are phenomenal. Hadi is one of those throwback guys who believes that shows are won and lost from the back. Ronnie Coleman also always said that a big back was key to winning. Look at Ronnie Coleman, look at Dorian Yates, and of course look at Lee Haney. These guys single-handedly changed the course of bodybuilding. I’m not blaming them for where the sport is in 2025, but they carried the torch for as long as they could as champs. Hadi has the back, but does he have the heart.
As far as I’m concerned there’s nobody on that stage that wipes the floor with Hadi. I believe everybody on the stage is someone that Hadi has beat over the course of his career. And I feel that Hadi Choopan is coming into this contest with just the right amount of grittiness and positivity. One of the things that I’ve always liked about Hadi is the fact that he doesn’t trash talk his fellow competitors. He may not like the decision of the judges and he might even probably disagree with it, but he has nothing against his fellow competitors or the competitor that was given his title. That’s mighty big of him and that’s also why I think he has so many supporters throughout the world.
So what we know right now is that Hadi Choopan is in the United States, he’s accompanied by Hany Rambod, and he’s looking really, really good. We know that he is doing the Olympia to win It and I, for one, would be absolutely shocked if he wasn’t dead center in the first call-out for at least a few poses. I will tell you that this is going to be a very, very difficult contest to judge since there is so much top talent all on one stage, but I have a feeling the judges will be ready for it. I just hope the athletes are as well. It’snot necessarily make or break for this Choopan, but it’s definitely high stakes. There’s no question about it.
So what do you think? Do you think Hadi Choopan will go all the way? Or do you think he will fall so short? As always, thank you for reading my article, here, at IronMag. Please be sure to leave your feedback in the comments and don’t forget to copy and paste a link to this article on all of your social media feeds. It will generate lively conversation!!
