In Episode 267 of “The Menace Podcast,” host Dennis James wanted to get to the bottom of a controversial image that regular guest Chris Cormier shared on his Instagram account, depicting himself in a Godfather style pose with four-time Olympia Women’s Physique Champion, Sarah Villegas behind him. What got people’s attention was the fact that there was a fake bottle of PMMA placed out in front of them. But why?
The existence of the mocked-up bottle of PMMA was obviously a nod to recent controversies in the sport of bodybuilding. The 2025 Mr Olympia, Derek Lunsford had to deny usage of the muscle filler, while 2025 Olympia runner-up, Sarah Villegas raised what she says were hypothetical comments after losing her title to Natalia Coelho. On the November 27, 2025 episode of Prime Time Muscle, Chris Cormier expressed his own concerns about athletes chasing muscle fullness by any means, leading to the suggestive image.
“Sarah’s whole thing was only to put shade on Natalia because she got beat,” suggested James. “I think there’s no other reason,” he added, attempting to make sense of the situation. In response, Cormier said that the image was not specifically about Natalia. “I just want to say first of all, Natalia, to me was [in] crazy condition, she had some of the best posing of the contest,” responded Cormier. “She was the winner of the competition. I don’t want to take anything away from that. I just want to get that out of the way, because I know she don’t deserve that (shade).”
Cormier further explained that he never intends to take shots at individual athletes, but he does feel a responsibility to raise the issue of fillers, because he has seen young bodybuilder’s damage their bodies by messing with substances that they should be staying away from. “It’s really sensitive to me, this whole thing,” said Cormier. “It’s not about what we did in the 90s, it’s about what we walked away from, what we learned. In the 90s, we tried to convey that to the next generation. It’s not about ‘oh, did something, he did something.’ It’s not about that for me, but it’s a sensitive subject because I want to see us go from this journey, our fitness journey, and walk out of this thing unscathed, as much as possible.”
To watch the full conversation, where Dennis James quizzed Cormier further on his decision to collab on the Instagram post, plus the gang discussing other current bodybuilding news, see below.
