Mr. Olympia 2025 Dates, Schedule, Prize Money, Top Bodybuilders and Predictions

The top competitors in the bodybuilding world will descend upon Las Vegas this weekend for Joe Weider's Fitness and Performance Weekend, headlined by the 2025 Mr. Olympia competition.

Samson Dauda will look to defend his title after earning the top prize in 2024, but a field of tough competition will look to wrest the most prestigious prize in the sport away from him.

Who are his top contenders and does Dauda stand a chance of repeating?

Find out in this preview of the event.

Date: Saturday, October 11

Time: 9:30 a.m. (Pre-Judging), 7:00 p.m. (Finals)

Location: Las Vegas Convention Center

Prize Money: $600,000

Preview and Top Bodybuilders

Hadi Choopan, runner up last year and the 2023 champion, sat out the Arnold Classic, which allowed his toughest competitor, Derek Lunsford, to earn the win at the prestigious event. Dauda, winner at last year's Mr. Olympia, has also built momentum for himself through the best physique of his career.

Both Choopan and Lunsford are legitimate contenders to unseat Dauda, but neither has the pure physique that the defending champion does. It is his strongest asset and the one thing that sets the 2024 winner apart from the field.

Nick Walker returns to the field after missing last year's competition and while he has the size, there are real and understandable questions about his ability to match the on-stage conditioning of the top contenders.

Andrew Jacked is a physical specimen, someone with muscle depth that his opponents do not have but, like Walker, faces questions about his conditioning.

Not since 2020 and 2021 has a bodybuilder repeated as champion. Dauda could very well be that competitor, especially having bettered what is already a phenomenal physique.

There is something to be said about Lunsford winning the Arnold, though, and putting in the work to better himself and his body in preparation for taking that one, final step toward immortality and an Olympia title.

Choopan will wow, Dauda may have the best pure physique of the bunch, but Lunsford should be the favorite.

Prediction: Lunsford wins