By Christian Duque
Derek Lunsford has won the 2025 Arnold Classic in commanding form. Many insiders and pundits would never have guessed it because they were too comfortable giving it to the 2024 Mr Olympia Samson Dauda. Although Derek had won the top title back in 2023 and had lost it in 2024 taking third place, very few insiders thought that he could go into a contest that included the reigning Mr Olympia and take him out.
They also doubted whether or not he was able to bring the kind of physique that would stop other top competitors like Brandon, William, and potentially even Sean Clarida. Yes, even Sean Clarida was considered by many to be a shoe-in for that top five and arguably somebody who could give Derek a run for his money. And of course we can’t forget about Andrew Jacked. For many years now Andrew has been considered somebody who could potentially be the next Mr Olympia. And he was also somebody that a lot of people had ahead of Derek.
It’s really kind of crazy but bodybuilding fans have a very short-term memory. They forget how good a competitor is, simply on a less than stellar placing. And mind you, Derek never had a bad placing, but he did lose the Olympia and as a result of that a lot of people were all too willing to write him off. Nonetheless the sure money was that it would be a battle between the two – Derek and Samson down to the wire with Samson emerging victorious. At least that was a scenario that most in the industry were envisioning. which would have been how it normally would have played out. They could never anticipate what was actually going to go down in Columbus, Ohio, because even I didn’t believe it. I didn’t have Derek winning the contest, but then again I also didn’t have Samson winning it, either. For me this whole contest was a mixed bag of tricks and I was expecting the unexpected.
Samson looked good, let me go ahead and put that out there. But just like at the Olympia he was not conditioned to his maximum. To date, we don’t know what that maximum is. We just know that he is nowhere near it. And unlike the Olympia where the judges basically gave him a gift, I don’t think they were in the gift-giving mood in Columbus. One look at Samson at the prejudging and you could tell that he wasn’t firing on all cylinders. The more the judges posed him the more he started to fade. We saw the same thing happen at the night show. Or at the second day’s events. As the reigning Mr Olympia and a past Arnold Classic Champion you would have thought that he would have brought a better package with better condition to the stage.
Derek on the other hand has never won an Arnold and so he would be expected to maybe miss the mark ever so slightly. Nonetheless, where there is a flaw there is an opportunity. While Samson was nowhere near as conditioned as he had to be, Derek came in with razor sharp separation and tremendous muscularity and flow. Not only that but he was able to capitalize on the fact that his chief competitor was fading all the while he was getting harder, but he could see it in real time.
Another plus is that Derek went into the contest with very little stress. He didn’t have the burden on his shoulders of defending a title like he did in Las Vegas just a couple of months ago. In many regards he was going into Arnold’s Schwarzenegger’s contest as some would-be underdog. It sounds preposterous being that he is a Mr Olympia, right? Nonetheless there were other Mr O’s in the mix, like Brandon Curry. Nobody was looking at Brandon to win, either. In fact the biggest YouTuber had Brandon potentially retiring at the Arnold Classic. Talk about feeling stupid after the show right? Brandon went on to place fourth in commanding form and shut up a lot of critics that thought he was all but done from last year’s 9th Place Olympia. Nonetheless, The Prodigy really delivered.
Another guy that really delivered was The Conqueror. William Bonac had been all but written off since 2022 when he also placed 9th at the Olympia. He took 2023 off and came back in 2024 winning the Portugal Pro, winning the Mr Big Evolution, placing second at the Dubai and placing 7th at the Olympia. Nonetheless, William was also overlooked as somebody who could rock the boat in Columbus in 2025.
A lot of the Insiders were sleeping on some really dangerous legends. Again this oversight allowed for Derek to take advantage by sort of sneaking into a contest where in all seriousness he was always a top contender to win. And I have to really give it to Derek because as a former Olympia champion I would have thought that psychologically he would have been distraught at the fact that he wasn’t considered somebody who could really win the contest. But I think what he did was he turned it around and used it as motivation. I think that Derek has really evolved as a competitor and most definitely of all as a champion. I can still remember one Olympia, maybe it was 2018 or maybe it was 2019 when Derek was very disappointed with his placing and was eating green beans out of a plastic container hidden away from pretty much everyone. He was down in the dumps emotionally and it was really taking a toll on him. But that was 6 years ago, maybe more. Today, Derek Lunsford is a world-renowned champion and he really showed a clear head throughout the whole Arnold Classic. He never knew if he was going to win until he did win, but he always comported himself like a champion tried-and-true.
And that is something that is also very noteworthy because we have heard over the years how important it is to pose hard and to pose like a champion. You have got to believe that you are going to win the show. The judges can see it in your facial expressions and they can also see it in how you hit the mandatory poses. The audience can see it as well. As can the photographers. And I have to say that Derek really exhibited all of the traits of somebody who knew he was going to win. He may not have known for sure, but that is the perception that he gave. That is the vibe that he emanated. And I have to say once again, this was a hard fought battle, but the right man won.
I’m really happy that the judges looked beyond politics and looked beyond the pecking order set in place by the Olympia. Because it’s not about who won the Olympia at the Arnold Classic. It’s not about who looks his best weeks out on Instagram, either. The judges should only judge what is before them at that given contest and that is exactly what they did. As a result, the right man won.
Now I don’t know what this does to Samson’s title. He can hardly call himself the number one bodybuilder in the world when he got his ass kicked in Columbus, Ohio. But nonetheless he is your reigning Mr Olympia and he should travel the world, guest pose, make lots of money and hopefully turn on a lot of new fans to the sport of bodybuilding. Only time will tell if that will happen. But I really feel like this is deja vu with 2009 all over again when most bodybuilding fans were not looking at reigning Mr Olympia Dexter Jackson, rather, looking at Jay Cutler who everybody knew was going to win the title back at the Olympia. And that’s exactly what happened. The difference between 2009 and 2025, is that Samson sort of made his own bed and now has to sleep in it. I would never have advised him to have done the Arnold Classic after winning just one Olympia. And perhaps if he had stayed with his coach Milos Sarcev, he would have recommended the same thing. Unfortunately, he gave up on the big name coach and really just sort of has been winging it ever since. It worked for winning the Olympia, but it also worked for doing an Arnold Classic he had no business competing in.
In any event, I want to congratulate Derek Lunsford on being a great champion and winning a huge title that will undoubtedly put him back into the conversation for the 2025 Olympia. Do you agree with the judges’ decision? As always , thank you for reading my article, here, at Iron Magazine. I look forward to reading your feedback in the comments. Be sure to copy and paste a link to this article on all your social media feeds. It will definitely drum up some lively conversation.