‘He really went backward’ - Samir Bannout criticizes Big Ramy’s physique after Mr. Olympia loss

Mr. Olympia 2022 has concluded. Big Ramy's upsetting loss has shocked the entire bodybuilding fraternity.

In a podcast on the YouTube Channel Old School Labs, Samir Bannout reflected on Ramy's physique for Mr. Olympia 2022, what is next for the former champion, and the likelihood of Ramy coming back if he sustains nerve damage in his back. Bannout remarked that Ramy was 'missing stuff', such as his triceps and lats when he looked back at his body.

“It happened to me but for me it was done intentionally. it wasn’t... I mean, he really went backward. The muscle atrophy was showing."

He further added, saying that he had a conversation with Big Ramy and the preparations,

“We talked about it so many weeks ago, so it did affect him quite a bit. His quality and skin wasn’t too bad, he still had that quality, but some things are missing — his triceps a little bit, his lats are a little bit caved in, and you could see that.”

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Samir Bannout on Big Ramy’s upsetting Mr. Olympia

Samir Bannout pointed out the mistakes Big Ramy made at the Mr. Olympia 2022. He started by saying,

“He had an airplane; he doesn’t know how to fly it and that’s basically the problem. He crashed. He did,” said Samir Bannout.

Samir thinks that Big Ramy struggled to compete at the 2022 Mr. Olympia. He concurred with Nick Trigili that he could have placed sixth instead of fifth if the judges had wanted.

“Too much excitement for him [Big Ramy] — you know he probably doesn’t believe himself, ‘I’m already on the Olympia stage,’ he wasn’t really calm. Nervousness messes you up, you gotta calm down. He could have easily been in sixth place.”

Samir Bannout said that George Farah informed him about Ramy's thighs when he was at the tournament. Many spectators and rivals observed divots and dents in Ramy's quadriceps in the months before the competition. Iain Valliere himself made the suggestion that Ramy might be punished for them. Bannout believes that may have occurred at the 2022 Olympia.

“Something on his size wasn’t — according to George Farah, he said, ‘I don’t know what he had,’ I think George went backstage, I didn’t go backstage for Mr. Olympia, but he told me something happened to his thighs, there was a couple of divots.”

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What happened at Mr. Olympia 2022?

Hadi Choopan won the Mr. Olympia 2022 competition, which concluded the previous weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada. Elssbiay suddenly relinquished his championship after being outmatched by four other opponents, which caused significant upheaval in the Men's Open division as a result of the competition.

Ramy was hardly compared to the other competitors during prejudging and was pushed off to the side of the stage during the competition. Most spectators and veterans felt that Hadi Choopan and Derek Lunsford were competing for the gold despite the fact that he temporarily grabbed center stage in the finals. In the end, Choopan put a stop to Ramy's two-year rule and dedicated his success to Iranian ladies.

Big Ramy confirmed his dedication to bodybuilding with followers online after the defeat. He assured them he would never give up and would return. Days after the event, the former champion expressed his optimism for the future in a lengthy interview. He stated that he would start his journey back to the top as soon as he spoke with the judges and learned what went wrong.