{"id":14185,"date":"2025-05-13T01:58:41","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T18:58:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=14185"},"modified":"2025-05-13T01:58:41","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T18:58:41","slug":"derek-lunsford-wins-historic-2025-pittsburgh-pro-in-epic-tiebreaker-with-nick-walker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=14185","title":{"rendered":"Derek Lunsford Wins Historic 2025 Pittsburgh Pro in Epic Tiebreaker with Nick Walker"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Derek Lunsford was victorious in the first ever Open Division bodybuilding contest held at the Pittsburgh Pro on May 10-11, taking home a cool $100,000 in prize money and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.muscleandfitness.com\/flexonline\/flex-news\/the-2025-olympia-will-be-held-oct-9-12-in-las-vegas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">building momentum towards the 2025 Mr Olympia<\/a> and a potential second title. This competition also marked <a href=\"https:\/\/www.muscleandfitness.com\/flexonline\/flex-news\/does-nick-walker-pose-a-threat-to-derek-lunsford\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the return of \u201cThe Mutant\u201d Nick Walker<\/a>, who came in at a close second place after the two behemoths initially tied on the scorecards, leading to a nerve-shredding tiebreaker round. But while many people thought that Walker should have won, Phil Heath explained why the result is a net positive for bodybuilding.<\/p>\n<p>Many within the packed David L. Lawrence Convention Center voiced their support for Walker, who had shown great improvement after taking several months out to reset himself physically, but the night would ultimately belong to Lunsford. The history making event will no doubt be debated for eons to come, but Heath explained why he thought Lunsford beat Walker.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI never thought I\u2019d ever see a so-called sudden death overtime in bodybuilding,\u201d commented the seven-time Mr Olympia while speaking as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0_jmYCcdGcY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">guest on the RxMuscle YouTube channel<\/a>. Hosts Dave Palumbo and Chris Aceto were also surprised by the sudden heath scenario, because they both felt that Lunsford was cruising to victory. Many of the fans disagreed, however. \u201cNick won\u2026 I was there in person as well\u2026 everyone has Nick winning,\u201d wrote one YouTube user. \u201cNick was clearly better.\u201d added another.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe crowd was very Nick friendly,\u201d observed Heath. \u201cWhich is great for the sport. But look, there\u2019s been years where I competed, where they\u2019d cheer for Ramy, they would cheer for other guys, and you know when you\u2019re polished, as the athlete which Derek is, right? Derek was able to hold himself composed and make sure that he did not fade, that he still improved on some areas, and I thought he was the most consistent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\ud83d\udea8PHIL HEATH: WHY DEREK WON + Derek REACTS To Win! | Pittsburgh Pro Recap\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0_jmYCcdGcY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>What Phil Heath Said To Nick Walker After the 2025 Pittsburgh Pro?<\/h2>\n<p>Nick Walker returned to action following his surprise withdrawal from the 2024 Olympia, an event he missed due to a desire to give his body a break and is now firmly in the mix as one of the top contenders in the Open Division.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI spoke to Nick,\u201d revealed Heath. \u201cAnd I said, \u2018look, there\u2019s times where you have to understand that you may feel like you were robbed. You may feel that way, because the outcome was undesirable (for Walker), but you go there next week, you go to New York, you prove that you are mentally tough, that you\u2019re emotionally conscious of what you can bring, and you bring that in New York, you handle your business there, and if you wanna get some real get-back, you go to Vegas after you get that qualification, and you run it back.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Heath explained that Walker should keep his chin up and look at the next few months as a chance for Walker to recreate a rematch between the two Pittsburgh Pro finalists at the 2025 Olympia, where \u201cThe Mutant\u201d could potentially avenge his loss on the grandest bodybuilding stage of them all, creating a thrilling rivalry in the process. \u201cIf I\u2019m Nick Walker, I would say \u2018look, I pushed Derek to his limits,\u2019\u201d shared Heath.<\/p>\n<p>The panel was then joined by Lunsford himself, and Heath gifted the champ with some sage advice too. \u201cYour story is gonna be remembered because of the fact that you had peaks and valleys,\u201d he explained. And, as for the mixed crowd reaction: \u201cYou cannot go out there assuming that everyone\u2019s going to love you,\u201d said Heath. \u201cYou can assume that they are going to respect you because of what you put out there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Derek Lunsford is now focused on winning his second <a href=\"https:\/\/mrolympia.com\/mr-olympia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mr Olympia title in October<\/a>, while Nick Walker is expected to compete at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ifbbpro.com\/competition\/2025-new-york-pro\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2025 New York Pro<\/a> as he chases qualification to tread the boards in Las Vegas for that much anticipated rematch.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.muscleandfitness.com\/flexonline\/flex-news\/derek-lunsford-wins-historic-2025-pittsburgh-pro-in-epic-tiebreaker-against-nick-walker\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Derek Lunsford was victorious in the first ever Open Division bodybuilding contest held at the Pittsburgh Pro on May 10-11, taking home a cool $100,000 in prize money and building momentum towards the 2025 Mr Olympia and a potential second title. This competition also marked the return of \u201cThe Mutant\u201d Nick Walker, who came in &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fitness"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14185\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}