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Foremost let me clarify that the people angry over the judging at the 2026 Huanji China Pro aren\u2019t just fans of James Hollingshead. We\u2019re going to talk about the many positive attributes that The Shed has and why so many people are drawn to him, but with regards to the judging a lot of people are angry because they don\u2019t understand what the judges saw. They don\u2019t understand how James, who looked his very best in China, could come up second to a guy who was clearly off in terms of condition, who did not win most of the poses, and who arguably almost didn\u2019t even make it to the contest. There\u2019s a lot to unpack here. All I want to say is that I\u2019m not going to title the article with James was robbe<\/em>d or politics prevailed <\/em>or anything like that because I don\u2019t think it was a bank robbery, you know what I mean? Was it a close contest that should have been decided in a different way? Absolutely. Did Behrouz have a claim to win? Sure, he did. I would never say otherwise. I just think that there\u2019s a lot of factors that are at play and a lot of people are waiting for Tyler to give the judges\u2019 perspective. People want to hear from the judges, from the men and women that sit at the table who ultimately decide the placings in a bodybuilding show. But as often is the case, if their scoring isn\u2019t in line with what the majority of bodybuilding fans are saying, questions are going to be asked. I should also point out that Matt from Muscle Discord has been a champion of promoting the use of\u00a0AI, or artificial technology, as a litmus test for what people are saying. Whether it\u2019s the judges, media personalities, or even the fans. Because at the end of the day, AI doesn\u2019t know politics and it doesn\u2019t play favorites. It looks at a physique as objectively as possible and judges it. It can do so objectively despite this being the most subjective sport of all.<\/p>\n Before I speak more on China Pro, I just want to be clear that I\u2019m not advocating that AI replace human judges. I don\u2019t think AI is quite there yet even though some of its supporters would argue till they\u2019re blue in the face, otherwise. I also think that it\u2019s important to have human judges because AI is only as good as who programmed it. Ultimately the script is written by a human. I think that even though AI would take things to the extreme in terms of transparency and near-perfect objectivity, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s the right fit for the sport at this time. That being said, if AI is supporting what the majority of human beings that are fans of the sport are saying, then I would say, \u201cHouston we have a problem.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Let\u2019s talk a little bit about Behrouz.\u00a0 Initially when he applied for a visa he was denied almost immediately. Everybody was caught off guard by this because if there was one country in the world where an Iranian could go without being hassled it would be a country like China or Russia, right? Because after all Iran has good diplomatic ties to those countries. The same can\u2019t be said for Iran and most European nations, much less Iran and the United States. Unless you\u2019re living under a rock, you\u2019d know we are actively at war. We saw how the Iranian FIFA players claimed to have been treated during the World Cup, and we can only imagine how hard it will be for a bodybuilder in similar circumstances. Now do I believe the Iranian soccer players?\u00a0 Not really, but I do think it makes a little bit of sense that there would be some backlash for the team or for an athlete representing a country that the host country is at war with. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s that far of a stretch.<\/p>\n But when Behrouz\u2019s visa application was denied, I thought that was it for him. China represented the only realistic road he had to the 2026 Olympia. Now his coach, Milos Sarcev, clung to the hope that if he applied for a second time that maybe he would be able to get in. To me that sounded crazy. If you\u2019re rejected for a visa and you apply again, you\u2019re just going to get it rejected again. But maybe Milos knew something that the rest of us didn\u2019t. Because when Tabani applied for the second time, wouldn\u2019t you know it, he got approved! Nonetheless, the Behrouz\u00a0we saw take the stage in China was off. A lot of people don\u2019t want to talk about that, but he was off. And he was sweating profusely. Quite frankly, Behrouz didn\u2019t have the wow factor that James did. I\u2019m not saying the guy didn\u2019t deserve to be in the top three, I\u2019m not saying the guy didn\u2019t deserve to be runner up, and I\u2019m not saying that it was the Injustice of the century that he won the contest. What I am saying is that he wasn\u2019t at his best. And if he wasn\u2019t at his best, and James, then I think a much stronger case can be made for James being the rightful winner.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n