by Christian Duque
There’s a growing sentiment in the bodybuilding community as to how impressive Hadi looks. He has really brought his game to the Mr Olympia. Not only did he look absolutely fantastic earlier this year in Columbus, Ohio to win the Arnold Classic, his first ever, but he has put in the work to bring his absolute best even better than Columbus to Las Vegas, Nevada. The former Mr Olympia has not skipped a beat. He continues to work tirelessly in the trenches with his superstar coach, Hany Rambod, which also happens to be the coach of the reigning Mr Olympia, Derek Lunsford.
The showdown is coming down to the wire with bodybuilding fans and commentators all asking themselves what does the former champ have to do in order to reclaim the title? And interestingly it being the 60th anniversary of this amazing competition it still serves as a stark reminder that reclaiming the title is virtually impossible. Only one man, Jay Cutler, was ever able to do it. The question is will Hadi be the 2nd man to do so? Will he be good enough to not only beat the reigning champion, but knock him out. Because that has always been the case with winning the Olympia. It isn’t just about winning the contest, It’s about knocking out the reigning champion. But can that be said about last year? Did Derek really knockout Hadi? Because to this day a lot of people still don’t believe that Derek actually did so.
Hadi is a guy that has paid his dues over the years. He started in the lighter division and then moved on to the open. Although he never won the 212 Olympia Showdown he did the next best thing moving up to the open division. When he did that, very few people thought that he would ever reach the milestone achievement of winning the Mr. Olympia, but that’s exactly what he did.
Unlike his predecessor however, Hadi only held the title for one year. For all intents and purposes he probably thought he was going to repeat in 2023 but unfortunately that’s something that was not in the cards. To be totally honest, I don’t think that he really lost the Olympia last year, either. I think that it was a very close call. Usually a defending Mr. O is able to survive a close call. I don’t believe Derek knocked out Hadi and I had serious issues with Derek winning the title. It’s not to say that Derek wasn’t deserving or that he didn’t work hard, but it almost felt like everything was being handed to him on a silver platter. He didn’t qualify for the big dance (he got a special invite) and then he got extremely favorable judging. There were a lot of guys who were waiting in line ahead of him that got essentially cast to the side. But why is that? Was it simply because Derek had such a superior physique to Hadi?
Listen, bodybuilding is a subjective sport. I’ll be the first one to tell you that. I’ve been covering the sport for nearly 20 years and I have seen some decisions and quite frankly make me scratch my head to this day. Decisions that surpass even politics. Decisions that honestly make you wonder if the judges were blind that day. But in the end, all you can do is accept reality. You can argue till you’re blue in the face but it’s not going to change the outcome. The reality of the matter is that Derek is a Mr Olympia and Hadi is a Mr Olympia. Even if everybody and their mother thought that Hadi won last year, the Sandow is sitting on Derek’s mantle. And that’s all that matters. Right now for Hadi to win the Sandow he needs to be that one man ahead of everyone else. It’s not necessarily a competition of being the best bodybuilder. I think idealistically that would be the case, but right now every single man, including Hadi, is gunning to beat Derek. If you can beat Derek, you will be the champion. and that’s about as simple as I can make it. Now the real question is, is Derek beatable? That’s what we’re really here to talk about. Because we can talk about how great Hadi looks, but if he’s not going to beat Derek it doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.
So why do you think, yes I’m asking you the reader, why do you think they want Derek? And who are they? Well in my opinion, they are powerful people. They are the ones that rule the federation, they are the ones that promote the contests, they may even be the ones that own the supplement companies. They is subjectively broad and all-encompassing. but really when it comes down to it, they are really one or two people. And it does not include the promoter of the show and it does not include any member of the judging panel. Politics are alive and well in bodybuilding, most especially at the Olympia level. This is after all the Super Bowl of Bodybuilding. There is no greater title than this one. And I believe that they, again that ominous term, want Derek over Hadi. And here is why.
Derek is the kind of champion that’s going to tour the world. And it’s not that he’s going to do it, it’s something he’s already done. He hit the ground running. As soon as he won the title last year, he was immediately on planes, trains, and automobiles, promoting the sport of bodybuilding. He grew the sport during his year. That is not up for debate.
On the other hand, Hadi didn’t really do anything. He held the title for a year, he was active on the Olympia weekend, then he went back to Iran and that’s about it. He didn’t really hit the expo circuit, he didn’t really guest pose, he certainly didn’t hand out trophies. He basically was a hermit Mr Olympia. He was the equivalent of Dorian Yates in the 90s, but sadly, his reign took place in the 2020s. The sport did not grow with Hadi as champion. And that I think is unforgivable. Hadi also did not guest pose in Pittsburgh, which is the president’s show. I think that earned him a certain level of disdain from the powerful people. Look at what happened to his predecessor for not guest posing there. I know, I know, you may think that I’m just spouting a bunch of conspiracy theories, but it stands to reason that if you give the cold shoulder to the president, it’s going to come back to haunt you.
Like I said, we can sit here and talk about Hadi’s vascularity, his definition, the fact that he has even somehow managed to put on more muscle mass onto his frame. I mean even that last statement seems almost impossible because of the fact he is already one of the most compact bodybuilders in the sport. Nonetheless he figured out a way to put on more size without losing his condition and symmetry. but that’s not going to win him back the title. If this were a sport that where aesthetics, muscularity, symmetry, and condition really made the difference, then maybe improvements like the ones Hadi has made would win him back the title. But unfortunately it’s neither here nor there.
I suspect that Hadi is going to place second or worse. I do not believe he’s going to join Jay Cutler and make history at the Mr Olympia by rewinning the title. Now I might be wrong. And if I’m wrong, I could not be any happier because of the fact that I think it is preposterous that only one man in six decades has ever been able to win back the title. That being said, I would be shocked if I were wrong. I think it is going to be Derek’s show to lose and if he does not walk away with the victory it’ll be someone else, but it will not be Hadi.
As always I appreciate you reading my article here at Iron Magazine. I look forward to reading your feedback in the comments. Be sure to copy and paste the link to this article on all your social media feeds, as it’s going to generate considerable conversation. And once again, let me reiterate, I would love nothing more, than to be wrong when it comes to this particular Olympia prediction.
