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“Doesn’t Make Sense”: Defending Champion Shockingly Withdraws From Arnold Classic 2023

Published 12/31/2022, 7:00 AM EST

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For an athlete, there are two crucial goals when they compete in a sport. One is to win, and the other is to defend their title for as long as they can. However, the current Arnold Classic Physique winner from the last two times, Terrence Ruffin, doesn’t want to defend his title in 2023. In a recent Instagram post, Ruffin announced that he won’t be participating in the upcoming Arnold Classic in March. Ruffin has been dominating the second-best bodybuilding competition in the world for a couple of years.

Then why did Ruffin decide to withdraw from Arnold Classic 2023? Why doesn’t he try to defend his title once again? Let us find out.

Terrence Ruffin’s shocking announcement to the bodybuilding world

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Bodybuilding coach and pro-bodybuilder Terrence Ruffin has consistently performed well in the past few years. He stood as runner-up in Mr. Olympia Classic Physique in 2020 and 2021 and won Arnold Classic Physique in 2021 and 2022. However, Ruffin didn’t have the desired result in Mr. Olympia 2022 and stood in the sixth position. Moreover, this could be a reason for Ruffin to take a step back and analyze everything.

A few days after finishing Mr. Olympia 2022, Ruffin made a massive announcement of withdrawing his participation from Arnold Classic 2023. In the Instagram post he uploaded, he clarified the reasons behind his decision to his fans and followers.

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He wrote, “It’s been an honor to be the @arnoldsports champ for the past two years but in 2023 the goal is to grow and improve. Knowing that it takes me longer to put in size than my peers competing in March just doesn’t make sense and so I won’t be defending my title. Good luck to everyone who gets the invite! I’ll be there in the crowd cheering you on 😁”

Is Ruffin’s complete focus on Mr. Olympia 2023?

Terrence Ruffin is the kind of athlete who learns from every setback and has a history of making stronger comebacks. Ruffin himself remembers the previous setbacks he had in his bodybuilding career and how he crossed those failures to better results. After standing sixth in Mr. Olympia 2022, Ruff Diesel promised the bodybuilding world to be back much stronger in Mr. Olympia 2023.

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While uploading this post, Ruffin wrote, “After coming off my best placing of 6th back in 2017 in 2018 I dropped back down 3 places to 9th. Instead blaming others or circumstances I took full responsibility and fixed what needed fixing and the next time I competed at the @mrolympiallc I place 2nd. I don’t see set backs as failures but learning opportunities. Congrats to the top 5…a better version of Ruff will see you next year 😤♥️.” 

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What do you think about Terrence Ruffin’s decision to withdraw his contention from Arnold Classic 2023? Let us know in the comments section.

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Written by:

Kaivalya R Pillai

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Dr. Kaivalya R Pillai is a US Sports author working at EssentiallySports. An accomplished academician, he recently completed his doctorate degree in pharmacy.
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Edited by:

Simar Singh Wadhwa