Samir Bannout believes Lunsford would have competed if quality was the same.
Mr. Olympia Derek Lunsford has received criticism since his victory at the 2025 Olympia. This includes some bodybuilding veterans talking down on the physiques of today, including Dorian Yates.
Fellow bodybuilding veteran Samir Bannout made a claim recently that Lunsford would have beaten the likes of Yates and Ronnie Coleman in their primes if all quality was the same. Bannout was responding to Chris Aceto when he said that Lunsford “wouldn’t have beaten them.”
[RELATED: Derek Lunsford Responds To Dorian Yates’ Criticism Of Today’s Physiques]
“Let me give you my honest answer: When Derek stand up on stage with the quality equal to Ron and Dorian he can beat them both…but when will that happen, I don’t know!!”
Together, Coleman and Yates dominated bodybuilding for over a decade with 14 Olympia titles between them. Lunsford has now won his second in Men’s Open, making it three in total combined with his previous win in the 212 division.
Bannout continued onto explain that Lunsford should not be chasing anymore size moving forward.
“Derek can be beyond great…however he MUST do the following, *No more chasing SIZE”
Derek Lunsford Wins Bodybuilding “Triple Crown”
Derek Lunsford entered the 2025 season with big plans and has reached them thus far. He won the first-ever Men’s Open Pittsburgh Pro title, which came after his victory in Columbus during the 2025 Arnold Classic. He set his sights on the Olympia to complete the trifecta. After his win at the Olympia, Lunsford became the second bodybuilder to ever lose a title and win it back — joining Jay Cutler.
After his victory, Lunsford shared that he suffered a torn pec right before the show. The injury, which occurred on Sept. 10, took place while Lunsford was performing dumbbell presses with a 70kg weight. On this particular day, he thought about going up in weight but wanted to focus on controlling the weight through the entire movement. Lunsford knew right away that he suffered this injury and it eventually began to bruise. This did not happen right away and he was able to “kind of flex it” right after. As time went on, it began bruising and it put his performance in Las Vegas in jeopardy.
Derek Lunsford was able to make a quick recovery and return to the gym ahead of the Olympia. It took time to get back to full strength but he was able to get close to it days before the show, putting on the best performance possible.
“This was a very serious injury that could have taken me out of this year’s Olympia and potentially my entire career. 16 days later, here we are today, and I am almost able to train at 100%.”
For more news and updates, follow Generation Iron on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
