With the 2026 Mr. Olympia just a couple of weeks away, Samson Dauda has been all over social media, dropping physique update after physique update that have fans buzzing. The Nigerian Lion is looking massive, and reports of his current numbers have even caught the attention of Kai Greene. 

Size has been the defining theme of Dauda's offseason. After judges pointed to a lean physique as the reason behind his fourth-place finish in 2025, he shifted his focus to rebuilding mass, reportedly climbing toward the 350-pound mark while trying to keep his shape intact. 

However, fans were not the only ones to notice this; Kai Greene weighed in as well. In the video clip posted by Generation Iron on their Instagram, when discussing the videos posted by Dauda of his workouts, Greene was asked if he was impressed by Dauda’s 350 lbs bulk up. 

"Personally, hell yeah I’m impressed. Are you kidding me?" Greene replied in the video posted by Generation Iron on their Instagram on September 9th. 

A bodyweight that high is extreme even by Men's Open standards. Dauda stands just under 6 feet tall, and carrying 350 pounds on stage while still holding shape and separation is a balancing act few competitors can pull off without looking bloated or losing conditioning. 

The number is central to Dauda's comeback story. After a fourth-place finish in 2025 that critics blamed on his once-dominant frame shrinking, he committed to rebuilding size, spending this offseason documenting his climb toward the 350-pound mark. 

That commitment to size hasn't gone unquestioned, though. 

When Victor Martinez questioned Samson Dauda’s strategy 

Victor Martinez isn't so sure the bulk-up was worth it. Adding size now only makes the cut back to contest shape that much tougher.

While discussing the same on the Generation Irons podcast, Martinez pointed out that Dauda did not have to bulk up so much. 

"Big mistake doing that because I know what he was trying to do. Of course you're going to eat. When you're that big, you're going to eat. You're going to train; you're always going to train heavier. But for me, he didn't have to get that big. You know, he just made his job harder," Martinez said on the podcast uploaded to YouTube on 31st July 2026

He pointed back to 2025, when Dauda stepped onstage near 300 pounds without the conditioning to win. Adding more size only raises the stakes. 

Analyst Ehsan compared the approach to Ronnie Coleman's, famous for combining extreme mass with elite conditioning. Martinez agreed the payoff could be huge, but so is the risk. Few bodybuilders have ever pulled it off. 

The question now: does Dauda become the next Coleman, or did he just make his own comeback harder? 

Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco