by Christian Duque
As feuding in the sport of bodybuilding seems to be reaching a boiling point all eyes are fixated on the next major event, the LA Fit Expo, which is scheduled for late January 2025. This event also has history when it comes to feuds being resolved by kickin it old school. Who can forget the run-in between the late great Rich Piana and Macc Trucc? That interaction went absolutely viral.
This is also home turf for Kali Muscle, who at one point in time was considered one of the sport’s most influential roughnecks. He was known as being an ex-con meets gang leader who turned his life around but still had the edgy side. Back when Kali hit the scene, he brought a lot of street cred to the whole game. He wasn’t just flexing and pumping iron, but he was making it known that he wasn’t that guy to be played with. Kali portrayed the O.G. vibe and even when Rich Piana crossed the invisible line of suggesting that Kali was on the sauce, they themselves had a little run-in outside Gold’s Venice. Rich conceded that maybe he spoke out of turn and Kali let it go. Crisis averted – that day.
Rich seemed to always draw out feuds because everything he touched turned into gold. Kali also started the whole Slap City bullshit in Los Angeles. The Fit Expo is home to more characters. L.A. is also Macc’s turf, the Strength Cartel’s, and others.
The LA Fit Expo is an expo that parallels a contest. We see it done with the Arnold and the Olympia as well. That being said, the LA Fit Expo isn’t in Columbus or Vegas. Both of those cities are tame when compared to the city of angels. L.A. is not to be played with and since it’s home to so many bodybuilders in the fitness game, they can’t be made to look soft. If say the Strength Cartel rounded the corner and bump into Macc, the next words and moves would be key. One wrong word, one wrong look, even saying a name wrong, could see things break off.
It’s like Birdman on The Breakfast Club. No one on that show out and out disrespected him, but he felt they didn’t put respect on his name. He was quite offended and was ready to take care of business. To date, Birdman is the butt of jokes because his anger got the best of him, but that guy was ready to roll. He was highly offended and had Charlamagne Tha God or Envy clowned him some more or tried to one-up him, Birdman and his crew would have wrecked the set. And the same applies to certain types of influencers. The social media world isn’t all candy canes and gumdrops or whatever. There’s some straight goons in this world too. There’s guys who will go to work on someone – whether it be in the parking lot, booth-side, or in front of a group of cops. They simply don’t care.
When you’re dealing with real street code people – disrespect will not be tolerated. How they handle their business runs the gamut. Some are going to step up and see what the other side is all about. Others might just bumrush whoever is being uncourteous. It really just depends. And very few will take a backward step – even if it means avoiding a fight or lowering the stress level. Taking a backward step spells fear. It may be what the bigger man does (in theory), but when it comes to the game, it looks like fear. And if you or your brand is associated with fear, you’re going to lose money. This is a sport of alphas and those aspiring to be alphas. Retreat is seen as beta conduct. Therefore, it raises concerns for peace ruling the day.
The LA Fit Expo is nowhere near as big as the Arnold, but even if it was, it changes the entire playing field. Whereas you might have several influencers, each with their entourage, all at one event doesn’t seem like an issue – it can be. In their usual day-to-day life, you might have one influencer in SoCal, another one in Canada, one in New York and another in Florida. The tensions run high and sometimes even fans of each influencer will handle business in person with each other. That’s because the big fish never see each other. Now you put them all in one expo for 1-3 days and now you’ve got the elements of a substantial melee. And all the fans that go there, they’re wanting to see fists fly and the event disintegrate into a rumble. And every last one of them will have their cell phones fully charged and ready to be weekend reporters. If they’re at the right spot at the exact right time, they could be the ones that get the footage. I mean some of these feuds have gotten so bad when these folks are in person that knives have been pulled.
Usually expo staff ignore these feuds. Some promoters make the dangerous assumption that they’re all fake and/or simply done as a way to get views. Some of these feuds are anything but a laughing matter. This is especially true if the feuds are more about exposing scams and/or scammers. Forget bruised egos and/or disrespect. Imagine if the beef causes an individual to lose a livelihood. Look at Liver King – his empire is history. He still earns to some degree, but it’s at subsistence level compared to the piles of money he was making when people actually believed his lies. Others have just as much to lose. If a guy is bankrolling his lifestyle by selling on hot air programs and a big influencer or two is exposing that truth, things can escalate fast. As a result, I think that expo staff are at least paying attention.
If I was interested in clickbait or just making waves, I could list off all the big-name influencers who will probably be at this event and stir the pot. That’s not the kind of writer I am and those are not the types of articles I write for Iron Magazine or StrengthAddicts. I don’t engage in slimy reporting. The point of this article is just to say that things could go south and they could go south fast, unless preventive measures are in place.
For example, expo security needs to at least be somewhat informed. The promoters can surely handle that little bit of oversight – I’m sure. Remember, third party private security will treat this like any other gig. They lack the insight and appreciation of the intricacies of bodybuilding feuds. And I’m in no way trying to be facetious. Having your security go into a situation blind, is almost as bad as not having security at all. Security needs to be briefed beforehand and they need to have trouble areas mapped out. If shit breaks out and expo attendees were to stampede and people get hurt – THE EXPO COULD BE HELD LIABLE. But I’m just a licensed, practicing attorney. What do I know?
Only time will tell what – if anything – goes down at the 2025 LA Fit Expo. My hope is that it goes smoothly and everyone has a blast. The promoters, however, need to ensure that this event is peaceful. And something tells me the influencers in question are also mindful of how bad things could go if some of them rely on their street tactics to resolve matters.
How do you think things will go? As always, thanks for taking the time to read my article, here, at Iron Magazine. Are you planning on attending the event? Be sure to copy and paste the link to this article on all your social media feeds. I look forward to reading your feedback in the comments.
