Chris Aceto believes the sport has shifted away from the standards displayed in past eras. In a recent video (November 3, 2026), he discussed Lee Haney’s warning about dangerous conditioning levels after Nick Walker’s Mr. Olympia win.
After Nick Walker claimed the Sandow trophy, he became the 20th athlete to win the Mr. Olympia title. In the show’s aftermath, questions about his victory surfaced. Some argued that Dauda should have won because he scored more points on day two, though “The Mutant” ultimately emerged with his hand raised.
Weeks after the showdown, Lee Haney said the sport was in a state of disarray, warning that ‘near-death’ conditioning could lead more athletes to pass away prematurely. With time to unpack the controversy, Aceto explained below why conditioning now plays a heavier role in scoring events.
Chris Aceto Pushes Back at Lee Haney Over Judging Criticisms and Conditioning
While Aceto admits that conditioning alone won’t determine a winner, it weighs significantly into how an athlete is scored:
“A quirky result, but Dorian weighed in: he deferred to conditioning, and if he was a judge, he would of also had Nick first, on both nights, probably, which points to your point that if conditioning, it’s not the be-all-and-end-all, but it’s extremely important in choosing a winner, especially in a show that’s close,” he said.
He also clapped back at Haney, who suggested that posing in the Men’s Open has been tossed to the side. He believes judges use three factors to pick a winner in today’s era: size, muscularity, and conditioning.
“Posing routines? It’s not judged at all, whatsoever, period. Posing is out. So, the point about posing, nothing as far as I see it, so as long as you can hit your mandatories correctly, that’s enough.”
“Men’s Open bodybuilding, that era, that train, and that perspective left the station when Dorian Yates arrived. And we have transitioned exclusively into size, muscularity, and condition. Even fans who don’t know what they’re talking about, let alone good judges, people who have been around the sport, can recognize size, muscularity, and condition. Those are the heavyweight three factors that impact who wins a competition.”
Aceto isn’t the only bodybuilding veteran to disagree with Haney’s outlook. Former 1983 Mr. Olympia Samir Bannout recently emphasized that competitors can get ‘dry as the desert sand’ without implementing dangerous practices, like diuretic use, which he said has been largely misused by modern coaches.
The Men’s Open division has certainly undergone immense changes since Bannout’s time on top. However, he believes dry conditioning still deserves to be a part of the judging criteria in the IFBB Pro League.
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