Samson Dauda might have his winning formula finally locked in. In a September 13 video, Samir Bannout broke down Dauda’s triumph at the Europa Pro and offered him advice to nail his peak for the 2026 Mr. Olympia.
In 2024, Samson Dauda became the 19th bodybuilder to claim the prestigious Sandow trophy. He attempted to showcase improvements at the 2025 Mr. Olympia, but it backfired. Dauda’s pursuit of sharper conditioning left him undersized, leading to a drop to fourth place.
“The Nigerian Lion” set his sights on redemption at the 2025 Prague Pro next. There, he faced an all-time best Martin Fitzwater, who narrowly won. After a year full of setbacks, Dauda put his head down and used the off-season to grow. Having tipped the scales at over 300 pounds, he restored his confidence with a dominant win in Germany. With a bit more polish, Bannout sees him as the man to beat heading into Vegas.
Samir Bannout Offers Samson Dauda Advice to Nail His Peak for 2026 Mr. Olympia
In the video, Bannout urged Dauda to come into the Olympia harder with thinner skin.
“I feel Samson could actually get a little bit harder. Maybe it’s a good idea for him to check his peak. Right now, he can make some adjustments to have a little bit thinner skin.”
With more detail in his shoulders, the 1983 Mr. Olympia predicted Dauda will be incredibly hard to defeat:
“It was a very, very good showing, looking the way he looked. From my perspective, he would need to be a little sharper in the upper shoulder area, deltoids, and the back, from the trapezius, but his midsection is beautiful. His legs are beautiful. He was big. I mean, the guy is over 300 pounds, I’ve heard. That’s beyond massive.”
“I’m pretty sure he’s going to be very tough to deal with in the Olympia,” adds Samir Bannout.
He praised Dauda’s midsection and pointed out that Lunsford’s rib cage sticks out during poses:
“When you weigh over 300 pounds, and you got that small waist, that tells us something. You know what I like? He doesn’t have that huge rib cage, which is, if you look at Derek, his rib cage is somewhat sticking out a little bit and that’s probably hurting him in the double bicep poses.”
As long as Dauda can fine-tune his body in the next few days, Bannout views him as the favorite to win the 2026 Olympia:
“It’s not about fat burning. I think right now, if you can fine-tune whether you can be fuller or a little bit drier, those kinds of things. I believe he’s much better than he was last Olympia, by far better. Samson makes a living on his mass and beauty.”
“I think he’s the man to win, but let’s see Derek, let’s see Andrew Jacked, that’s where it’s going to be sticky,” he said. “It’s not going to be a walk in the park, to be honest.”
Though Bannout was blown away by Dauda’s Europa Pro package, that wasn’t the case for everyone. Olympia MC Bob Cicherillo thought Dauda looked worse than what he presented back at the 2024 Olympia. He went on to say that if Dauda brings this level of conditioning to Vegas, he won’t even crack the top three.
It will be interesting to see how Dauda decides to approach the final stages of his preparations. The 2026 Mr. Olympia takes place from September 24-27 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The livestream is free, and Fitness Volt will have play-by-play coverage spanning the entire weekend.
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