Victor Martinez on rematch with Jay Cutler: “We have signed the contract. We’re going to face off.”
Pro bodybuilder Victor Martinez has confirmed that he will be officially competing against Jay Cutler in a rematch at the 2024 Mr. Olympia. The news was announced via an Instagram video post recorded at the Generation Iron gym. This comes after heavy speculation over the past year that Jay Cutler would make a bodybuilding comeback.
Victor Martinez first broke the news to Generation Iron directly and agreed to record a video announcement in a recorded video statement. You can watch the video below:
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In the video, Victor Martinez claims that both himself and Jay Cutler have signed a contract to appear and compete at the 2024 Mr. Olympia. It is unclear whether or not this is a special exhibition event – as technically Victor would need to qualify in order to officially compete (since he had never won the Mr. Olympia competition – which provides a lifetime invite to future competitions).
At the time of this writing, Jay Cutler has not publicly commented on the rematch.
“Just got off the Arnold Classic, working in Ohio. You saw Jay Cutler got the lifetime achievement award. Congratulations. It’s a new year. I have to step it up. I want to face him this year at the Olympia. We have signed the contract. We’re going to face off. It’s going to be a repeat ’07. Can’t wait to do it. Training starts now.”
– Victor Martinez
Victor Martinez and Jay Cutler’s friendly rivalry hit a crescendo at the 2007 Mr. Olympia competition. Both competitors were neck in neck throughout the pre-judging and finals of the competition. It was perhaps the best physique that Victor had ever brought to the stage. Many fans believed that 2007 would be the year that Victor earned his first ever Sandow trophy.
Ultimately, victory was not in the cards for Victor Martinez. Jay Cutler was announced the winner – in what many fans to this day still consider a controversial decision. The 2007 Mr. Olympia is one of the more controversial events in bodybuilding history. Similar to the likes of the 1980 Mr. Oympia when Arnold Schwarzenegger made a comeback and won first place.
In 2023, Jay Cutler began a “fit for 50” challenge – aiming to transform his physique by the time he turned 50 years old. This sparked continual rumors throughout the bodybuilding world that he would be making a comeback. Many thought he would ultimately compete at the return of the Masters Olympia that year. Ultimately, this did not happen.
But it seems that the hype behind those rumors left an effect on Jay Cutler. And after Jay took a light jab at Victor Martinez during his Lifetime Achievement Award speech at the 2024 Arnold Classic – it would seem that Victor has now felt the urge to prove himself once again as well.
This story is still developing and we expect to see a response from Jay Cutler very soon – alongside more information about the nature of this rematch at the 2024 Mr. Olympia. Until then, you can see Victor Martinez’s official first off-season contest prep training session below:
