Bob Cicherillo Sees Opening for Nick Walker at Olympia After Samson Dauda’s Europa Pro Appearance
Bob Cicherillo believes Nick Walker may have been one of the biggest beneficiaries of Samson Dauda’s latest appearance just two weeks before the 2026 Mr. Olympia.
Dauda returned to the stage at the 2026 Europa Pro in Germany over the weekend, earning the victory ahead of Regan Grimes and John Jewett. While the former Mr. Olympia displayed his trademark size and fullness, his conditioning became a major topic of conversation afterward.
During a recent Olympia TV discussion alongside Chris Cormier and Terrick El Guindy, Cicherillo argued that Dauda still has considerable tightening up to do before stepping onto the Olympia stage. More importantly, he believes what Dauda showed could give Walker renewed confidence that he has a legitimate opportunity to beat him.
Bob Cicherillo Says Nick Walker Can Out-Condition Samson Dauda
Cicherillo has long been one of Dauda’s biggest supporters and still believes Samson possesses arguably the best overall physique in the Olympia lineup when everything comes together.
However, conditioning remains the question.
After initially explaining that Dauda looked roughly two weeks away from his best, Cicherillo turned his attention to how the Europa Pro performance could affect the other Olympia contenders.
Cicherillo says defending champion Derek Lunsford should feel confident after watching Dauda in Germany, but Walker might be even more encouraged.
“The happiest guy probably isn’t Derek right now. It’s probably Nick Walker, who is probably licking his chops right now thinking, ‘I got an actual shot because I can come in in way better condition than this.’”
Cicherillo then pointed specifically to Walker’s back as an area where “The Mutant” could gain a significant advantage over Dauda.
“Nick will beat him from the back without question.”
That could become particularly important in an Olympia lineup that no longer includes Hadi Choopan. Cicherillo identified Lunsford, Walker and Andrew Jacked as three athletes capable of making Dauda pay if he gives away points from behind.
“Nick’s back is right there with Derek or anybody else for that matter,” Cicherillo said. “From the back, Nick can hang with anybody in the world, if not beat him.”
Conditioning Could Give Walker His Opening At 2026 Mr. Olympia
The comments add another layer to what is becoming an increasingly unpredictable Men’s Open competition.
Dauda won the 2024 Mr. Olympia before failing to successfully defend his title in 2025. Cicherillo believes Dauda was approximately “95 percent” when he captured the Sandow and maintains that a fully realized version of Samson could still beat anyone.
The challenge is finding the balance between Dauda’s enormous size and the conditioning necessary to defeat athletes such as Lunsford and Walker.
Cicherillo was clear that the version of Dauda who appeared at the Europa Pro would not be enough at the Olympia.
“This conditioning that he displayed today is not going to place in the top three at the Olympia.”
There is still time for that to change. Both Cicherillo and Cormier stressed that two weeks is a substantial amount of time during the final stages of a bodybuilding prep, and Dauda deliberately used the Europa Pro as a tune-up rather than attempting to reach his Olympia peak early.
Still, the performance may have revealed a potential path to victory for Walker.
Walker has never been known for possessing the same flowing structure as Dauda, but his combination of freakish muscularity, back development and razor-sharp conditioning can dramatically change comparisons once competitors are standing beside one another.
If Dauda cannot significantly tighten up while maintaining his fullness, Walker could exploit exactly that weakness.
With Choopan out of the lineup and Dauda still working toward his final Olympia package, Cicherillo now sees Walker as a serious threat in a group that also includes Lunsford and Andrew Jacked.
For Walker, seeing Dauda win in Germany might not have been intimidating at all.
It may have been exactly what he wanted to see.
Image embed via Instagram @nick_walker39
