The Professional Bull Riding organization planted its dirt at the Simmons Bank Arena in Little Rock Friday night for its PBR: Unleash the Beast series where bulls and cowboys battled until the very end.
The night started off with the introduction of the event’s 40 bull riders with special acknowledgements to the competitors who currently stand as the top five bull riders in the world.
Kyler Oliver, who stands at No. 3, was the winner of round one as he ranked No. 1 at the end of the night after riding out the qualifying eight seconds, averaging the score of 90.00 and tallying up 29 world points.
Oliver was the 38th rider of the night, leaving him with plenty of time to anticipate his performance.
“Our game is all about reaction … I had to tell myself to keep it simple and not to think about it,” Oliver said. “I just got my stuff ready, stayed to myself and only thought about winning.”
When saddling up, Oliver’s train of thought was interrupted when he sat himself on the back of his designated bull, Renegade, that began to toss him around before the gates even opened.
“First [Renegade] kind of jumped in there a little bit … but after that everything felt so good. I mean the way he bucked, it was just really cool,” Oliver said.
Tying at No. 2 with a score of 89.75 and 17.5 world points was this year’s potential three-time consecutive PBR World Champion Jose Vitor Leme and the 2019 Rookie of the Year Dalton Kasel.
Riders are not the only ones who get rankings, the bulls themselves do as well.
A contributor to PBR’s livestock is stock contractor Cord McCoy, who owns the No.1 ranked bull in the world, Ridin Solo.
He also owns Renegade who placed fifth with 88.48 points.
McCoy feels as if he has been a part of the PBR industry since he was a little boy.
“When I was a little bitty boy and rode junior bulls, that is when PBR kind of got its start … so I feel like I have always been window watching and a part of [PBR] my whole life,” McCoy said.
McCoy used to be a professional bull rider himself who got to watch the PBR World Finals six times before he retired.
“At one time at the end of my career, the bulls that I was raising—either I was going down, or they were going up—we kind of passed each other [in ranking],” McCoy said.
It was with this realization that McCoy decided to take a step down and put his full time focus into his livestock; this is when investors started to get involved and his practice pen turned into a full-time roster.
Placing fourth was Manoelito de Souza Junior with a score of 89.5 and 16 world points. Rounding out the top five was Rafael Henrique dos Santos with a score of 89.25 and 15 world points.
Also on the roster were Arkansans Chase Outlaw, Brandon Davis and Cole Skender.
Outlaw, ranked No. 42 in the world, showed out for his home state as he placed 6th with a score of 88.75 while Davis and Skender lacked a spot on the leaderboard.
A full list of stats can be found on PBR’s website under “Results and Standings.”