On Episode 286 of The Menace Podcast, Dennis James was joined by Chris Cormier and Milos Sarcev, and after seeing Samson Dauda guest pose at the 2026 Pittsburgh Pro, the panel compared the Nigerian Lion with one of the greatest bodybuilders of all time, Ronnie Coleman.
Samson Dauda is on the comeback trail after his 2024 Mr. Olympia victory was followed up by a shock fourth place in 2025. Taking account of his reversal of fortune, Dauda explained that he’d sacrificed size for conditioning, and that it resulted in a less than perfect package on stage. This year, the British-Nigerian bodybuilder has made his monstrous intentions clear and has looked huge in recent progress pictures shared online.
At the 2026 Pittsburgh Pro, this progress was finally shared on stage as part of a guest posing routine alongside current Mr. Olympia, Derek Lunsford, and hot contender Andrew Jacked. While The Menace Podcast panel felt that all three men looked incredible, host Dennis James believed that a comparison between Samson Dauda and Ronnie Coleman was in order.
Introducing Dauda to the guest posing stage on May 17, emcee Bob Cicherillo said it best. “There’s big, there’s bigger, and then there’s this guy,” he announced, before the Dauda, weighing somewhere in the region of 350 pounds treaded the boards. While Dennis James was unsurprised by Andrew Jacked’s consistent competition winning physique, he also took a moment to express his surprise at Derek Lunsford’s gain. “Derek was f*****g humongous,” he told Chris Cormier and Milos Sarcev. Still, as relates to Dauda, The Menace was really taken aback. “Point number two, I have never, in my whole f******g life, seen a bodybuilder that big,” shared the host, who is a former Mr Universe in his own right.
Cormier shared his agreement, noting that despite his size, Dauda’s abs were still defined. “And I’ve seen Ronnie (Coleman),” continued James. “Listen, if you see Ronnie at 330 pounds, guest posing, of course, he has the same size, and probably bigger (legs). I don’t know if the legs can get bigger. Samson was f*****g humungous.”
Being mentioned in the same conversation as Ronnie Coleman is a complement that Samson Dauda would take great pleasure in hearing. The man they call “The King” shares the all-time record for most Mr Olympia wins alongside Lee Haney, with eight trophies taken between 1998 and 2005. Dauda is hoping to add his second title this year.
“I don’t want to say (Dauda was) bigger than Ronnie, because I don’t think anybody was bigger than Ronnie, at his biggest, but for right now, I was interested to see him next to Andrew,” said James. “And I hate to say it for him, next to Andrew, you know Andrew was in shape, so don’t get me wrong, he creates more of an illusion, too, because he was still in shape. But, next to Samson, he looked kinda stringy.”
Cormier agreed, noting that jacked looked “lanky” in comparison to Dauda. “Yeah, don’t let me say stringy,” said James, correcting himself in favor of Cormier’s assessment. Chris Cormier continued that after what he saw on stage in Pittsburgh, he considered that the 2026 Olympia could become a showdown between the current and former champions.
To watch the complete conversation on the Muscle & Fitness YouTube channel, where the boys also discussed other breaking bodybuilding news, see below.
