This year, Samson Dauda walked onto the Olympia stage with every intention to defend his Mr. Olympia title. However, 2025 came as a shock to him, as Derek Lunsford ousted him to clinch the crown, leaving Dauda to content himself with a fourth-place finish. Now, months after the loss, Dauda has revealed why he believes he lost the title.

"Since the 2022 Olympia, I put on a lot of size," Samson Dauda explained while speaking to Jay Davies. "I became big. I became that 300 lb guy on stage," said the 5'11 bodybuilder.

However, Dauda explained that just because he could put on size easily, neither he nor his coaches valued it. “Ah, if he’s just a little bit tighter, maybe he needs to come down a little bit more," he revealed.

“Keeping that mass relies on you sitting your a** at home a lot, and not moving around so much. You need to maintain that, or else you're going to start losing it,” Dauda told Jay Davies.

Now the former Mr. Olympia believes that downsizing for the 2025 Olympia cost him the title. Although the 2026 Mr. Olympia is still nearly a year away, Dauda is determined to put on and then maintain his muscle mass.

Samson Dauda Coming In Heavy Next Season

In the conversation with Davies, Dauda expressed that he had reflected on his professional journey. He shared that this year, he lost track of how much his mass and “freak factor” had contributed to him winning Mr. Olympia.

"Everybody wants to see monsters. Let's be real, this is bodybuilding. There's nothing more impressive than you seeing a freakin over six-foot-tall dude weighing over 330 pounds monster,” said Dauda.

He stressed that now is the perfect time to be the monster everyone wants to witness. “It's time to go back to being a monster again. This is bodybuilding. We all joined this because we want to see inhuman physiques. We want to see monsters. We want to see guys bigger than we've ever seen," said the former champion.

And he's well on his way there. Samson Daude had bulked up to over 330 lbs by the end of November. In fact, on November 27, Dauda posted a video of himself breaking his scale.

"Well... Safe to say I'm gonna need a new scale," Samson Dauda posted, showing the scale exceeding 330 lbs. The Nigerian Nightmare is now aiming to sustain a 350 lbs physique.

Written by

Suryakant Das

Edited by

Sagnik Bagchi