YouTube’s lord of reinvention, Yousef “Fousey” Erakat, has done it again. The 34-year-old streamer, prankster, fighter, and rapper strode onto a Sacramento stage and exited as the first-place winner in the Open Men’s Physique Tall Class at a natural bodybuilding competition.
It marks the latest chapter in a career that has ricocheted between viral highs, public meltdowns, boxing matches, rap stints, Twitch scandals, and now stage-tanned dominance in front of bodybuilding judges.
Six Months to a New Fousey
Fousey revealed in early January that he was battling mental illness and weight gain. In place of retiring from the spotlight, he dove headfirst into a six-month transformation, going into detail about his exercise and eating in social media posts. Followers watched him trade late-night-streaming anarchy for rigid posing practice and chicken- and-rice preparation.
“I owe this to discipline, my coaches, and everyone who believed in me when I didn’t,” he detailed backstage, holding his medal.
The Internet Reacts: Praise and Concern
Like always with Fousey, the victory led to polarized discussion online.
One fan celebrated his resilience:
“I have never seen anybody whose life cycles are crazier than his.”
Another highlighted his constant reinvention:
“This man is literally leading an alternate existence whenever I read about him in the papers.”
Others simply couldn’t help ridicule at:
“Him body look AI as f***.”
Others got downright philosophical:
“It’s not about vanity, it’s about triumph over oneself… What’s Fousey’s case? He was chubby as all gets out at one time in his life but he didn’t cower behind excuses. He got to work, he adjusted his mindset, and he emerged the victor. That’s not mental illness, that’s mental fortitude.”
But few were convinced. One critic wrote on Twitter: “Bodybuilding is a sign of mental illness in insecure drug abusers who seek social acceptance among other socially ostracized males. Bodybuilding is an ugly anti-human activity.”
A Champion of Chaos
Love him or loathe him, Fousey’s still living the lifestyle that few artists would try. Summed up an over-enthusiastic fan in a nutshell:
“Say what you want about Fousey but he lives life the way you should. He just does s***. Content, streaming, fighting, bodybuilding, music… when he dies he can say he did everything he wanted to.”
And maybe the legacy of Yousef Erakat is that he’s never satisfied with how the story goes. Today, he’s the winner of the bodybuilding title. Tomorrow? Nobody knows with Fousey, and that’s why the internet can’t look away.