Cedric McMillan becomes the latest bodybuilder to withdraw from the Arnold Classic.
The 2022 Arnold Classic is just over one week away but there continues to be some changes to the Men’s Open lineup. Cedric McMillan has become the latest bodybuilder to pull his name out of the event scheduled for March 3-6 in Columbus, OH. McMillan was preparing to appear on stage during the Arnold Classic but Milos Sarcev confirmed with Jay Cutler that he will not be ready in time.
McMillan is a former champion of the Arnold Classic in 2017 and was preparing to make a run at bringing back his title. In 2020, McMillan fell a bit placing sixth before he was forced to miss the show last year with an injury. McMillan still made the trip to Columbus in September to appear as part of the broadcast team.
As recently as last week, McMillan was posting former posing routines and fans were looking forward to seeing him on stage once again.
“Way back in 2009, on stage at about 252 (still too big for classic, so dont say that)… they said “stop posing like that, it’s not 1980!” And they said “get bigger!”
Thanks to @blackskullusa for finding this, it brought back so many memories ❤”
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Cedric McMillan has been dealing with different injuries and issues since the 2020 season. This includes a broken hand and broken collar bone. The injuries continued into 2021 and he was forced to miss the action in Columbus last year. McMillan also had complications with COVID-19 that impacted his heart and forced him to miss a significant amount of time.
McMillan now becomes the fifth competitor to pull his name out of the show dropping the number of athletes to nine.
2021 Arnold Classic Lineup
- William Bonac (Netherlands)
- Maxx Charles (United States)
- Brandon Curry (United States)
- Samson Dauda (United Kingdom)
- Regan Grimes (Canada)
- Steve Kuclo (United States)
- Fabio Giga Rezende (Brazil)
- Justin Rodriguez (United States)
- Brett Wilkin (United States)
With Cedric McMillan pulling his name out of the competition, this leave nine bodybuilders vying for the Arnold Classic title in Men’s Open. It began when Rafael Brandao withdrew from the competition for undisclosed reasons. Then, both Nathan De Asha and Mohamed Shaaban were forced to pull out due to injuries. Akim Williams was the most recent to withdraw just last week.
After healing from the virus, McMillan returned to the stage during the Legion Sports Pro. McMillan was not part of the first callout and did not return for the finals. He was also scheduled to appear during the Egypt’s KO Pro show but did not make it. The Arnold Classic was supposed to be a return to stage but fans will have to wait a little longer.
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