He didn`t really just give up.....Weider wanted him to enter all of the smaller IFBB contests such as the Mr. America and the Universe and he had already won the AAU and NABBA versions respectively and told Weider to get fucked.
It was as if he had to start over from the bottom after all the years and work he put in as if he was just a nobody and he felt he had already paid his dues which in fact he did.
I still would have loved to see him compete in the IFBB though.