Brandon Curry Opens Up On 2023 Mr. Olympia Ambitions: “Winning is So Much More Than a Trophy” 

In 72 hours, top talent from the Men’s Open division will storm Orlando, Florida for Joe Weider’s 59th annual Mr. Olympia Weekend. Among the contenders is Brandon Curry, who took part in an interview published on October 31, to discuss his prep and ultimate end goal in bodybuilding. 

“It’s the judge’s call. It’s not in my control. But I do think I have everything necessary to beat everybody on stage. For me, I think I’m fully capable. Will I bring that package, that remains to be seen. That’s my job,” Brandon Curry shared. 

Brandon Curry’s IFBB Pro League tenure is filled with highlights. Having claimed the coveted Mr. Olympia crown in 2019, Curry has long cemented his legacy but hasn’t slowed down in his quest to attain more bodybuilding gold. Last year, he won the Arnold Classic for a second time. When he made it to the 2022 Mr. Olympia, Curry refused to let the stacked lineup stop him from pushing into the first call-out. 

In the end, the 41-year-old settled in fourth place, with Nick Walker, Derek Lunsford, and Hadi Choopan out-pointing him on the scorecards. Mamdouh “Big Ramy” Elssbiay meanwhile, finished fifth and has opted to sit out of this year’s mega event. 

In just a few days, Curry will set his sights on the Sandow trophy once again. Should he find success, he would immortalize his name in bodybuilding history by joining Jay Cutler as only the second man to reclaim the Mr. Olympia. 

Brandon Curry Talks 2023 Mr. Olympia Lineup, Progress, and History With Hadi Choopan 

According to Brandon Curry, parts of his physique are “coming back to life” and he says most people can sense he’s more confident than last year. 

“I just think you see some things coming back to life, you see some excitement in my body. You see, you probably sense the confidence going into the show. If you look at it and you look at the comparisons I have against me. It’s nothing new really, the only new body – well the freshest body is Derek but other than that, nothing really new. Nothing really I haven’t seen before,” said Brandon Curry. 

“It’s different every year [when I got to Kuwait] but this year I was advised to come in a little bigger. So when I arrived we were a pretty good size. The goal wasn’t really to push the scale this year anyway.

 

So we basically spent a lot of that time re-comping putting on muscle and getting leaner as my body normally does but it wasn’t about pushing the weight up. We just let the re-comp happen as the process happened and my weight didn’t change much but we are, of course, coming in more tighter as we get closer. The scale is not changing much but we are seeing my body change,” explained Brandon Curry. 

“I feel like saying some Phil Heath stuff but that’s not me… nah, you know, you know how Phil Heath would be, he’d be like ‘Ah kill them all!’ For me, there is no particular person that I’m aiming for. And to me, anybody can win it at this point. Anybody can win it I don’t think there’s some strong frontrunner that’s going to hold his ground.” 

 

“A lot of people are seeing if Hadi can hold but they are expecting Derek to step up of course. You got the Nick fans, Samson of course, he’s coming off strong off the Arnold. He has a lot of people anticipating that he will be the biggest guy on stage now that Ramy is off.” 

“So we know, we’re seeing some different factors come into play so I got to play a different strategy, I’ve got to play a different game. To me, it’s a fun game. I like this game. I like coming in sharp and taking advantage of my shape. And I’m going to make sure I present the physique the best I can.” 

“Yeah for sure. Definitely sure. Definitely sure. With the adjustment, it’s just being healthy in the joints, being able to get a good range of motion, being able to have different variations not fatigue, but targeted training. There’s no sense in beating up your lower back, no sense in beating your whole body up, just when you want to hit those legs real hard.” 

“Winning is so much more than a trophy you know. Winning is so much more than a placing. At the end of the day, you’re going to have to win any way you can, you got to win each day if you can. So when it comes to me coming in, I want to come in with the package that I can be proud of, something that I wanted to bring to the stage and I want of course to be rewarded for that.” 

“I haven’t been led to know in that vein. I haven’t even considered it. I haven’t heard it, I haven’t felt it. So I wouldn’t know [about retiring if I win].” 

“He beat me [Hadi Choopan] in San Marino. No, it was cool. I won a show the week before. I went there I figured Cedric was going to win that one to qualify. I didn’t come in – I deserved to be beat the way I can came in. No shade there.

 

Then I competed against him again in 2019, which the experience from the San Marino show in 2017 really helped me understand how to go about Hadi at the 2019 Mr. Olympia prejudging. That was a very valuable learning lesson for me I competed against him 2020, then 2021, of course, and then we have 2022.”

 

“That’s a good way of looking at it too. I get the rematch.” 

Watch the full video from the Fouad Abiad Media YouTube channel below: 

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