If anything can be said about the sport of bodybuilding it’s that anything can happen. It’s a sport based entirely on the judges’ subjective opinion. What that panel of individuals see is all that matters. It doesn’t matter what the photographers see or what the commentators see or even what the fans see. It’s not a democracy. And that is a good thing. Usually when you say something is not a democracy it sounds like a tyranny, but it’s anything but that. The judges spend an enormous amount of time test-judging and learning the various aspects of the scoring criteria of each federation. They are individuals that have been highly vetted and tested. They know exactly what they’re doing. and that’s very important in a subjective sport. Objective sports like soccer or football are easier to ref, but even there they need to do playbacks and then study different plays. But when it comes to physique-based sports it’s all about quick second determinations. Sometimes the athletes need to pose for extra rounds or hold poses for extended periods time. There’s nothing wrong with that – if anything – that shows that the judges are keenly looking at each detail of the physique. They look at particular muscle groups but then they look at the body as a whole. There’s a lot that goes into judging and I think that this past Texas Pro speaks exactly to the fact that anything can happen in bodybuilding. One should never think they know what the judges are going to do. It’s not a question of size wins all the time. It’s not a question of aesthetics winning all the time, either. It’s a question of who is the most complete on the day of the contest.
That is something that needs to resonate throughout this article. It only matters what you do on game day. So many bodybuilders fall prey to looking their best on Instagram or Tiktok or in their latest YouTube video – only to come to the stage looking less than stellar. You’re not being judged on what you did on Facebook, your judged on what you do on stage in the prejudging & the finals. When it comes to the 2026 Texas Pro, Patrick Moore emerged victorious.
I agree with Sid from RX muscle in that Patrick’s victory was not an upset but it certainly was a surprise. It was a pleasant surprise. And we’re going to talk about it.
I have a tremendous amount of respect for Patrick because he is a competitor who brings a classic look to the stage. He hasn’t blown out his physique trying to be the biggest. Even though I have not been generous with him over the years in terms of predictions, that does not mean that I have anything against him. That is something that needs to be understood from a journalistic perspective. Being a bodybuilding writer is almost as difficult as being a bodybuilding judge. I say almost because nothing is as difficult as being a judge. You have to see thousands of physiques walk across the stage and you have to be able to judge them and score them over and over again. You also have to be able to stand next to your score because then the fans will have at you, as will the media. The reality of the matter is that judging is not for everyone. You also have to remove all emotion from the equation. You might like someone’s personality, but you can’t reward them on the scorecards for it. You might even like their ambassadorial qualities but in reality you can’t really score them on that, either. You can only score what you see in front of your eyes and that sometimes means that you have to give a better score to a lesser quality athlete. Why, though? Well maybe that lesser quality athlete practiced their posing more and showed you their strengths and efficiently hid their weaknesses. And maybe the athletes that have the better physique simply did not pose hard, they didn’t show you why they were better. j
Judges can’t reward athletes that hide. As I keep stating, judges can only score what they see. So that makes their job incredibly difficult. And sometimes they have to score against the fan favorite. They have to endure the boos and the heckles from the audience but they can’t be phased by that.
I think the judges looked at Patrick and saw a tremendous amount of condition. They saw that he came in with a very small waist and a very controlled midsection. They saw that he posed hard and they saw that he didn’t lose his edge. Unlike his chief competition, Regan Grimes, Patrick didn’t come into the contest dressed like a cowboy and he certainly didn’t have the self-confidence that could almost resemble arrogance on stage. Like I said it’s great to have the belief in yourself to win, but when you don’t think you can lose, it shows on stage. There’s nothing that Regan did that was rude or uncalled for, but he didn’t fight. He faded in the prejudging thinking that he probably had it in the bag. Then he came back at the night show and didn’t really improve, either. In fact Patrick improved and Regan did not. I think the fact that he didn’t fight harder speaks to the fact that he probably thought that this was his show to lose. He probably thought that Texas was going to be an easy win and that’s why he did Atlanta at the last minute. I don’t think that Regan gave Texas the importance that it deserved because he probably thought that it was a warm-up show for the Olympia. Now what I think really stunted him was the fact that James Hollingshead defeated him in Atlanta, but instead of getting into that tunnel vision that Armon Adibi spoke about, I think that Regan continued with the farce of playing characters and stealing the attention from all the other competitors. Now granted he didn’t do this on stage because if he had done that he would have made a mockery not only of the contest but of his competition. but he had the audacity to go into Texas looking like a cowboy. Now even though nobody in Texas really dresses like that. I don’t think anybody in the Lone Star State is going to be offended by a Stetson and cowboy boots. That being said, maybe it wasn’t in the best taste.
Look, he was trying to be funny and there’s nothing wrong with a little bit of humor. I think laughing is great and laughing at yourself when you’re a top tier bodybuilder is even better because it shows that you have humility and that you don’t think that you’re larger than life. So he gets a pat on the back for that, but there’s a time and a place. He had just lost in Atlanta and he needed to focus on Texas and he did not.
This contest really came down to who wanted it more. I think that as Dave Palumbo said on the recap, Patrick Moore nearly broke into tears when he was announced the winner. He couldn’t believe it. He was so pleasantly surprised and so touched that he almost cried. And I agree with Palumbo that it would have been great if he had. It would have been a great release and it would have shown just how much love and respect Patrick Moore had for the Texas Pro stage. If for anything else I would have wanted him to win for that because he was really hungry and he really battled hard.
In any event, now the big question is will Regan do Austria? I don’t want to take away from Patrick’s moment in the spotlight. This wasn’t the only show he competed in. He has competed in nine shows this season. He has really paid his dues and he has cut his teeth with placings that he probably didn’t want but that he accepted. That is being a total pro. He kept coming back better and better and that is also the sign of a total pro. You have to respect that hunger and you have to respect that respect. That almost sounds redundant but let it sound redundant because it is a beautiful part of the sport.
I think Patrick will probably do well at the Olympia even though he will probably be out of the Top 10. He’s not the biggest but he certainly has a beautiful physique. He has great flow, tremendous balance, and great aesthetics. I know that the guys from the late ’80s and early 90s probably look at Patrick’s physique and say that should be the template for what bodybuilding is today. Patrick’s physique is not too far off from what Chris Bumstead’s look was when he was dominating classic physique. He’s obviously bigger because he’s a bodybuilder but he has kept true to the essence of what bodybuilding was in the Golden Era and the 1980’s. The problem though is that that look is not going to win him a Sandow or an Arnold Classic anytime soon, but he will definitely hold his own on any stage he competes in. And the fact that he won Texas in the way that he did, will get him a lot of accolades.
Patrick Moore is not going to be talked about from here until the Olympia for shit-talking or because he “embarrassed the competition.” He’s going to be talked about because he fought hard and he never gave up. He’s going to be talked about because he is representing a physique that is largely, virtually extinct at the top level and it is something that the fans really want to see. I really want to tip my hat to Patrick Moore for an absolutely stellar victory at the Texas pro.
What say you? Should Patrick have won? Should Regan have won? Or should someone else have taken the W?
As always, I hope you enjoyed reading my article – here at IronMag. I look forward to reading your feedback in the comments. Please be sure to copy and paste a link to this article on all your social media feeds. It is bound to generate lively conversation.
Author Bio:
Christian I. Duque is the owner of StrengthAddicts.com, a physique and strength website founded in 2008. He has worked for a number of bodybuilding websites, including RX Muscle and Muscular Development. Christian has written nearly 1,000 published articles for IronMag Blog, as well as articles for StrengthAddicts, RX Muscle, and others. By day, he is also a licensed attorney practicing in the areas of family law, immigration, and criminal defense.
