As the 2018 Professional Bull Riders 25th Anniversary Monster Energy Unleash The Beast Tour’s second major is about to begin, we make our way back to the great state of Texas and to one of the most iconic sports venues of all time. This year’s edition of the Iron Cowboy and RFD-TV’s The American will be the 13th PBR major event in its 25 years of existence and looks to be another history-making and exhilarating event that will catapult one cowboy to an almost guaranteed World Finals birth and possibly a world title in the coming months. Even though this is a one-day event, the anticipation of what the sport of professional bull riding will bring to the AT&T Stadium later tonight is at an all-time high with the best bull riders in the world taking on up to six of the best bucking bulls in the business all within a few short hours in front of the near-capacity crowd.
As all of the weekend festivities are about to begin, all of here at the Rodeo Round Up are getting ready to bring you all of the angles, photos, interviews and stories that you all expect from us week in and week out. Tonight’s coverage may look a bit different and a little longer than normal as the Iron Cowboy will bring us many opportunities to bring everyone up to speed and give you many of the interviews that you would hope to see. This event is a “Ride Or Go Home” style format with up to six separate rounds of bull riding action to determine who will be the last one standing inside of AT&T Stadium as the only man with the last qualified ride being posted, earning him the 2018 Iron Cowboy event title here in Arlington, Texas and giving him a huge amount of world title points to go along with it. We will break it down for you round by round and show you who would advance and how they would do it!
J.B. Mauney Advances To Round Two With A Qualified Ride
Photo Credit: Rokin’ K Photos / Jeana Wilson-Kilcrease
As the evening started with the first round of action here at the 2018 Professional Bull Riders Iron Cowboy event, forty of the best bull riders in the world began their journey in the hopes of leaving Texas with a MAJOR win on the 2018 Monster Energy Unleash The Beast Tour. Even though forty would begin, each round would dwindle that number down dramatically as tonight’s event would simply be a mentality of needing a ride to stay in the competition or go home wondering what they could have done differently. One of the most dramatic cuts would happen between rounds one and two when a major portion of those would have to call it a weekend early on and prepare themselves for tomorrow’s RFD-TV’s The American if they were lucky enough to qualify for that.
Everyone knew what was at stake and the efforts it would take to earn that event champion title but none of them would consider ANY round of this event as an easy one to get by with the round one draw loaded with bovine athletes that have been giving these cowboys trouble all year long. All of us inside of AT&T Stadium knew that we would probably see a majority of the forty riders here in the first round go out with a no score but we’re hoping some of the fan favorite bull riders would make it through along with some of the young guns that were introduced to us in the last couple of weeks. It is always exciting to see a newcomer come into an event like this and do well for themselves, all while staking a claim on the Unleash The Beast Tour for the foreseeable future with a solid performance at a major event like the Iron Cowboy.
Alex Marcilio Moves On To Round Three After A Huge Ride In Round Two
Photo Credit: Rokin’ K Photos / Jeana Wilson-Kilcrease
Round one was about as exciting as you could get with great performances put out by the forty bull riders that qualified to take part in the event that continues to impress the thousands of fans that make their way to Arlington, Texas and AT&T Stadium. In round one, each of the cowboys started with a clean slate knowing that they had to make a qualified ride to move on to the next round, unlike any event we have seen yet this season. that being said, this is a unique event where scores do not carry over round by round but are wiped clean each time, making the nerves that much more crazy for those still being able to partake in the festivities. That beginning number of forty was quickly dropped as the first round concluded, giving all of us watching a chance to digest what we just saw.
After round one, thirteen of the forty that began the journey were able to move on to the second round where the bull power continued to give the best bull riders in the world all that they could handle. Even though only the 13 were able to advance, we would again see many of those drop off that list as round two was set to begin, setting up a dramatic run to the end as we looked to crown a 2018 PBR Iron Cowboy event champion. After round two was concluded, there would be only two moving on the round three and would signify that we were getting that much closer to crowning a champion here in Texas! Once the numbers began to dwindle down, it was time for a special intermission musical treat by the Patriotic Voice of the PBR Mr. Ryan Weaver who would leave the 45,000+ fans speechless with his story.
Once the numbers began to dwindle, everyone knew it was only a matter of time until we were left with only one standing tall above the rest while carrying on the legacy that goes with the title or PBR Iron Cowboy. Many times, once we get down to the last few standing, we may have to watch them all again as no qualified rides would be made but that only carries on the nerves as all of us, including the riders themselves, would wait to see who they would carry around the arena as their 2018 Iron Cowboy. When each round begins, the bull names would flash on the screen and the match-ups would be announced keeping everyone on the edge of their seats. Each and every round would be stronger and stronger bucking bulls to be faced, ultimately giving the few remaining the chance to climb aboard the best bovine athletes in the industry today!
As the rounds began to move towards the end of the run, the cowboys still qualified to compete would also continue to be narrowed down one by one. Tonight, we would go from 40 to 13 to 2 as we worked our way through the evening to the time that we all had been waiting for as we were just about to crown the 2018Professionala Bull Riders 25th Anniversary Monster Energy Unleash The Beast Tour Iron Cowboy! Heading into the final round of the evening we were left with only two riders that would have managed to outlast all others and give all that they had in hopes of earning the final ride of the event. Before we announce who the champion is, we wanted to give you a break down of qualified rides round-by-round so you all can see for yourselves how our event champion got to where he was throughout the night!
Complete Round By Round Qualified Ride Break Down:
Round One:
Luciano De Castro (88.25) J.B. Mauney (87.75)
Alex Marcilio (87.25) Cody Teel (86.25)
Dakota Buttar (84.50) Valdiron de Oliveira (84.50)
Eduardo Aparecido (84.25) Ueberson Duarte (84.25)
Emilio Resende (84.00) Joao Ricardo Vieira (83.25)
Ramon de Lima (83.00) Silvano Alves (82.75)
Colten Jesse (81.25)
Round Two:
Alex Marcilio (88.75) Ramon de Lima (88.00)
Round Three:
No Qualified Rides
Round Four:
Ramon de Lima (86.00)
Ramon de Lima Outlasts All Others to Claim The 2018 Iron Cowboy Title
Photo Credit: Rokin’ K Photos / Jeana Wilson-Kilcrease
One year ago, at the 2017 Iron Cowboy event, we were able to sit through five fantastic rounds saw the final two square off against each other in two different rounds as we had to have a qualified ride to earn the event win and champion title. Last year, that man would be the Brazilian sensation Eduardo Aparecido who would be standing atop of the shark cage with a huge check in his hand all while earning 625 world title race points for the event win plus all the other points picked up throughout the different rounds. This win alone, soared him to the top of the world standings leaderboard for much of the season, losing some of the momentum as we headed towards the end of the regular season which set up a climax of a year at the 2017 PBR World Finals event in Las Vegas last November!
Every bull rider that makes it to the Monster Energy Unleash The Beast Tour not only dreams of earning an event title but has higher hopes of being crowned a PBR Major event champion as well knowing exactly how it could impact the looks of the world standings leaderboard and how it might affect their chances of being crowned a World Champion this November in Las Vegas. Historically speaking, many of the lucky contestants that earn a major event title will play a huge role in determining who will walk away with one million dollars following the PBR World Finals. This year, the event title would be headed Ramon de Lima’s way as he scratched and clawed his way to the 2018 Iron Cowboy title here inside AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas! I was able to catch up with the champ following his great run to see if it has set in yet that he had won a Major event title on the Monster Energy Unleash The Beast Tour. See what he has to say as we sat down with each other earlier this evening by watching our interview that has been posted below!
You can tell that he is obviously in shock and is still trying to take it all in but I am sure that once he leaves the arena tonight he will be reminded of his feats numerous times from his friends and traveling partners back in the locker room. It is always fun to catch up with these guys immediately after big event wins to get the raw emotion that you very rarely get to experience and feel right along with them from the arena floor. His win here tonight shot him all the way up to the number one spot in the world standings and earned him a whopping 830 world title race points for his efforts but along with the needed points and world standings rankings there was another great prize that came with the Iron Cowboy win, the cool $127,350.00 that he would be able to line his pockets with as well!
Now that the excitement of the 2018 Professional Bull Riders 25th Anniversary Monster Energy Unleash The Beast Tour Iron Cowboy event is in the books, most people tink that the action here in Arlington, Texas is a wrap but that is far from the truth. Many forget the there is still a huge event to happen here tomorrow afternoon which is the RFD-TV’s The American, the richest 1-day rodeo in the history of western sports. The top ten from all seven events earn a spot with five more coming from invites and qualifications that would earn all or a part of the one million dollars that will be up for grabs in just a few short hours. That being said, our Rodeo Round Up team coverage will continue as we head back to AT&T Stadium bright and early in the morning to bring you more interviews, photos, updates and stories from the RFD-TV’s The American!
It is quite easy to follow all the breaking news and excitement with the Rodeo Round Up simply by copying this website into your favorites in your web browser for easy one-click access to event statistics. You can also like and follow us on Facebook here, or by liking and following us on Instagram at @rodeoroundup and on Twitter at @therodeoroundup. You can have easy access to all of the video interviews Jason does from all the events across the country as well by simply clicking the link HERE to be transferred to the Rodeo Round Up’s Youtube channel as well! Jason has also made it easy for you to be a part of his interviews by opening up a listener comment line. If you have a question for a certain rodeo star simply call in and leave your name, where you are from, who the question is for and what your question is and he will do his best to get it answered for you during his interviews. Be sure to take a look at the entire collection of photos that will be taken over the weekend by following our photographers facebook pages by clicking Rokin’ K Photos link HERE and Denise Hetland Photography’s link HERE, we hope you enjoy all the action that we captured behind the lens throughout the weekend’s festivities!
Leave a Reply