“We were all wrong” - Jay Cutler on Big Ramy’s loss at 2022 Mr. Olympia

By Vishnu Mohan

Modified Mar 13, 2024 12:33 GMT

Mamdouh ‘Big Ramy’ Elssbiay failed to defend his title at the 2022 Mr. Olympia. The Egyptian bodybuilder finished fifth while Iran’s Hadi Choopan clinched the trophy. Following this, several veterans and experts came forward to analyze why the former two-time champion lost.

Bodybuilding icon Jay Cutler became the latest to address the surprising result of the 2022 Mr. Olympia. The four-time Olympia winner was recapping the event with Serbian bodybuilder Milos Sarcev when he discussed Ramy’s fall. Pondering over how the bodybuilder finished fifth, Cutler said that everyone was “wrong” in their predictions.

Cutler stated that Big Ramy could push back next year, even though the Egyptian did not produce the expected performance this time. Speaking about the 2022 Mr. Olympia result with Milos Sarcev on the Cutler Cast YouTube channel, Jay said:

“I still think Ramy can push back [next year], if he gets back to being full and hard.”

Addressing the predictions he made ahead of the competition, Cutler said that Ramy did nothing to retain his title.

He added:

“We were all wrong about Ramy. Ramy did not produce like we expected. I mean it just goes to show man, like we talked about all these guys, and I talked in the beginning I think on and off camera that Andrew Jacked could come in and win the first time.

"We talked about Derek Lunsford — could he be second, maybe not win it because we had this thing about Mr. Olympias never winning it on the first time once, except for the first time in 1965. Everyone on the planet thought Ramy was going to come in a repeat and win his third.”

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Jay Cutler and Milos Sarcev on Big Ramy's Olympia form

Milos Sarcev also revealed that he was surprised by Ramy’s performance at the event. He pointed out that the Egyptian won the competition in 2020 and 2021 with the same problems that also arose this time.

Discussing Ramy’s fall, Sarcev said:

“You [Cutler] said you were concerned about his back to the sense that [you thought] he might not even win. In a sense, you were right. But he won with the same problems last year, so you would assume they are not going to penalize him now if they didn’t last year and if he’s a little bigger and just as conditioned or better — then he would be the rightful winner.”

Following this, Jay Cutler stated that Big Ramy’s lats were his biggest problem on stage.

He said:

“The lats obviously, but I thought the biggest issue with Ramy was number one, his condition, but more importantly, he couldn’t open up his back. What was going on with his back?”

Sarcev replied:

“Now they [judges] are going to look, they’re going to scan his triceps,” Milos Sarcev said. “I would say [his back had] issues.”

With the above comments, Jay Cutler joined a list of bodybuilders who said they felt let down by Big Ramy’s form at Mr. Olympia. Recently, Ramy’s close friend/training partner Dennis James revealed that the defending champion looked “flat” hours before the competition. Bodybuilding legend Arnold Schwarzenegger was another who addressed Ramy’s poor performance.