Bodybuilder Samson Dauda is moving full steam ahead as he sets his sights on a second Arnold Classic trophy. On February 1, 2025, Dauda discussed his goal of winning multiple Mr. Olympia and Arnold Classic titles.
The 2025 Arnold Classic bodybuilding show is set for February 27 to March 2 in Columbus, Ohio. Headlining the prestigious event is Samson Dauda, who reached the pinnacle of his career in 2024, laying claim to his maiden Mr. Olympia title.
Having won the Arnold Classic in 2023, Dauda intends to earn his second title at the upcoming contest. But to do so, he’ll have to get through a daunting lineup of challengers, including third-place Olympia finisher Derek Lunsford, as well as frontrunners Andrew Jacked and Brandon Curry. This invitation-only competition serves as the second-most important of the year, behind the Mr. Olympia.
Samson Dauda Wants Multiple Mr. Olympia and Arnold Classic Titles, Discusses How His Life Has Changed Thanks to Bodybuilding
In a recent YouTube video, Dauda laid out his goals of winning multiple Mr. Olympia and Arnold Classic titles.
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“The next goal? I want another one and I want another one and I want another one. So you keep pushing for the next and the next.
Now that you’re here you’re like I want to be both the Arnold Classic champion and Mr. Olympia champion at the same time. I want to carry that and I want to go into that and win one after another and see how far can I take it.”
He admitted that his life completely changed after his first Arnold Classic win back in 2023.
“I remember winning the Arnold in 2023 when I won it, your life automatically changed. You’ve done shows and everything else, you come home, you’re buzzing for a week and you go back to your normal life. Everything goes back quiet. I won the Arnold and I was expecting things to calm down and it never did.”
“You’re going places and people recognize who you are. You’re going places where you were expecting nobody, like come on man, nobody watches bodybuilding and people are like ‘Oh dude, congratulations.’ I was like really, you get that more and more everywhere. I was like holy crap, this is big, this is a lot. This was my realization of how big bodybuilding became,” he shared.
He doesn’t understate the importance of representing the sport and emphasizes that he ‘came from nothing,’ making the journey all the more special.
“When you stand at you walk around and people see you, you shouldn’t even need to — they should see, okay, that’s Mr. Olympia. Not only should you look the part, but you should carry yourself as the part because you are now the champion of this thing. Your image, everything, you’re taking the sport with you when you do this.”
“I came from nothing. This sport gave me everything,” he shared. “Everything I’ve ever asked or even imagined I was going to get.”
For those following in his footsteps, he advised them to follow their dreams because they only live once.
“I always got to say to people that, look, if you want something, you get one life. There is no well, well, I’ll start again, no, you get this one. If you don’t do it, it’s done, it’s gone.
So don’t spend your time wishing a way for the stars to align or when things feel right. I can tell you, it’s never going to feel right, it’s never going to feel like the right time to do something. You have to make it happen.”
It will be interesting to see if Dauda can earn multiple Mr. Olympia titles on the horizon. Over the past four years, a different titleholder has emerged at the ‘Super Bowl of Bodybuilding,’ which is a testament to how challenging it is to successfully defend the title. Fortunately, Dauda doesn’t plan to sit back and enjoy the fruits of his labor, so expect an all-time best performance when he makes his way to the 2025 Arnold Classic.
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