Keone Pearson successfully defended his 212 Olympia title, securing it for the third time earlier this year. However, a setback found him on stage at the 2025 EVLS Prague Pro, where he was pushed back to fourth place in the Open division.

Setbacks are part of the game, but Pearson is already focused on returning to a winning formula. Speaking out of his heart on ‘Beyond The Stage TV,’ Pearson humbled his tone as he acknowledged the mistakes he made this year, “Underdogs mindset. So in 2025. We made a couple of mistakes, even mentally for me.”

He further added, “And now I'm back to that underdog, where no one is talking about me. People say everything is closed. In 2026, I'm coming to make some improvements, make noise, and make that statement that I know that I can make. And we're going to make some fg improvements.”

Pearson has dominated the 212 division for the last three years, but this year, he returned to the Open division. He took the stage at the 2025 EVLS Prague Pro against the big shots, but success was distant this time.

Martin Fitzwater, Samson Dauda, and Michal Krizo defeated him, claiming first, second, and third place, respectively, pushing him to the fourth position.

With the loss added to his record, Pearson has humbled himself, gotten back on his feet, and appears ready to compete in the open season starting next year.

Keone Pearson is keen on adding more size

Now, with more experience under his belt, he understands exactly what changes he needs to make in his routine.

“I need more size, I need more dimension, I need more pop coming out toward the judges. Like my quads, just bigger overall. I’m very aware of that,” said Pearson.

He further added, “I did want to see how I could stack up and hold my own. I did feel like I held my own, but to make that permanent move today, it’s not what we want to do right now. Just focus on getting bigger as time goes by, and I learned a lot.”

Pearson might follow in Derek Lunsford’s footsteps by moving to the Open division. Lunsford won the 2021 212 Olympia before transitioning to the Open division, and the move proved to be successful.

Written by

Suryakant Das

Edited by

Oajaswini Prabhu