Bodybuilding legend Phil Heath is still keeping tabs on the Men’s Open division. In a YouTube video from May 31, 2026, he gave his thoughts on the rivalry between Derek Lunsford and Andrew Jacked. He also laid out Samson Dauda’s path back to the Mr. Olympia title and discussed whether the event should go international.
The 2025 Mr. Olympia shook up the sport, with Derek Lunsford cementing himself as a two-time champion. Samson Dauda took to the stage downsized and slipped to fourth place. Meanwhile, Chinedu Andrew ‘Jacked’ Obiekea turned in one of his strongest performances to claim bronze.
At the recent Olympia Battle workout, Lunsford and Jacked got into a heated exchange. The reigning two-time champ told Jacked he’d never win the Mr. Olympia as long as he’s around. The table is set for a massive showdown in Vegas, leading Heath to lay out his expectations of the event.
Phil Heath Shares Dauda’s Path Back to Mr. Olympia Gold, Talks Lunsford & Jacked Rivalry
In the video, Heath touched on their budding rivalry, emphasizing that talk is cheap:
“The biggest thing when you say something, you have to back it up. For Derek, if he’s saying to Andrew you’ll never win, that means never. He’s going to have to put in the work. If he doesn’t win, it puts a really interesting story that makes the fans probably believe that Andrew is going to champion for a long time.”
“At the end of the day, talk is cheap. You have to go up there and win it with your physique, not just with your mouth. As far as being compared to me, he’s not compared to me. He’s compared to himself.”
To reclaim the Sandow trophy, Heath made it clear that size wasn’t the missing link for Dauda.
“For Samson, it’s pretty clear. He won the Olympia with great balance. He wasn’t the most conditioned but he had the best shape overall. I don’t really think he needed any added size, to be honest. I think what happened last year was a downsized version of himself and that’s why he lost.”
According to ‘The Gift,’ Dauda needs to showcase muscle striations ‘everywhere’ above all else.
“If he would have came in like he did before, it would be very difficult for the other guys to beat him. Now, with the added size, it comes with a lot more work to be hard.
That’s the biggest thing we need to see from Samson. His muscles, although they are great, they need to be striated everywhere. They need to be hard and he needs to be dry.”
Lastly, Heath expressed some doubt about the Mr. Olympia potentially moving overseas:
“At the end of the day, only Jake Wood knows that. He’s the one that knows, along with his team, understand the different markets of the world with other bodybuilding shows, collecting that data. I think it really revolves around how many fans would actually go to an event. How many people, right?”
Most notably, he shared concerns about athlete costs.
“It’s a numbers game, in my opinion. If you can get, let’s say, 20,000 people in a show in another continent, then yeah, absolutely, do it. But I think it would be very difficult logistically, as you mentioned, because a lot of the competitors come from North America and it all comes down to the costs of paying for those athletes,” he said.
Though some have had doubts about the Lunsford-Jacked rivalry, judge Terrick El Guindy ensured the bodybuilding community that it’s ‘100% authentic.’ He went as far as to compare Lunsford to former six-time Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates.
The title is up for grabs when the biggest show of the year makes its return. Don’t miss the 2026 Mr. Olympia, set for September 24-27 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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