Lee Priest wonders how the sport would look under new ownership. On Jan. 26, 2026, he suggested that Mr. Olympia was sold to Jake Wood over The Rock or Patrick Bet-David to maintain control of the athletes.
In 2020, the Mr. Olympia brand went up for sale. Three months before Jake Wood bought the organization, Patrick Bet-David (PBD) and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson were in potential talks to purchase it. While they admit they were close to striking a deal, Mr. Olympia later sold to Jake Wood, the owner of the Rising Phoenix Championship.
Six years after Wood’s acquisition, doubts about whether Mr. Olympia picked the right buyer have grown. The latest to unpack the deal was Lee Priest, who believes the sport would have likely evolved had they picked a different owner to helm the promotion.
Lee Priest Reveals Why Mr. Olympia Sold to Jake Wood, Says They Couldn’t ‘Control’ The Rock or PBD
In the IFBB AMA YouTube video, Priest underscored that had The Rock or PBD bought the Olympia, the IFBB, Manion family, and NPC wouldn’t have control over the athletes.
“Of course, Dan wouldn’t sell it to The Rock or Patrick Bet-David because they would do such a good job and kick Dan out. Those guys, the way they run shit with their type of money, it’s like the IFBB, the Manions, and NPC would have no control because it would actually be legit and actually start going places.”
He added that if The Rock took over, Dan Solomon would likely be out of a job.
“They were saying how the Rock was saying his first wife, Danny, she was his manager and they did business together even though they separated. She was still doing that.
He said if he bought it, she would be the one running it and stuff. You can imagine Dan thinking, ‘Oh, fuck.’ He was the CEO of AMI and running the Olympia. ‘Well, fuck, I’ll be out of a job.'”
According to Priest, Olympia sold to Wood because they could control him, whereas the same couldn’t be said for the other two potential buyers:
“Even telling Patrick Bet David it’s not for sale and then three months later selling it to Jake Wood. It’s like come on. They can control Jake Wood, but these other two, they wouldn’t have been able to control. Like you said, it would have gotten that good and that big that the athletes would have been like, ‘We don’t need the IFBB.'”
“They were talking about putting them in movies, these bodybuilders and stuff,” he adds.
Priest also shared that bodybuilders should have the right to guest pose at events outside of the IFBB Pro League or NPC.
“I never got [the problem with guest posing at other events] because you’re an IFBB athlete, you’re like one of the best in the world, if you can go to another event and get on stage and guest pose… there’s people there that are going to see you.
That might draw them into the IFBB. It’s not like you’re going to take people away from the IFBB. You could recruit people from that organization to want to go to the IFBB, and it’s exposure.”
Years later, PBD believes Mr. Olympia made a big mistake by not selling. He emphasized that the brand could have grown to unforeseen heights had they sold to The Rock. Looking at the sport broadly, PBD felt that Classic Physique should be represented more for a shot at mainstream opportunities.
Priest continues to speak up for bodybuilders around the world. Hindsight is 20/20, but he maintains the sport would be in a stronger place had they sold to someone other than Jake Wood.
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Watch the full video from the IFBB AMA YouTube channel below:
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