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Championship Saturday Field Set for 2022 Ultimate Bullfighting World Finals After Six Freestyle Bullfighters Advance via Final Round of Second-Chance Bracket

By: Kacie Albert

FORT WORTH, Texas – With the final six berths to Championship Saturday on the line Friday night inside the iconic Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas, for the 2022 Ultimate Bullfighting (UBF) World Finals, the world’s best freestyle bullfighters showed up and showed out, with Roper Rich (Eaton, Colorado), Jacorey Golden (Houston, Mississippi), Noah Krepps (Jasper, Arkansas), Knox Dunn (Slaughter, Louisiana), Brock Bowman (Barnsdall, Oklahoma) and Clay Moore (Belen, New Mexico) rising to the occasion in the must-win moment to keep their hopes alive of being crowned the 2022 UBF World Champion.

In freestyle bullfighting, a bullfighter competes for 60 seconds against a fighting bull predominantly of Spanish descent in an effort to score points for maneuvers performed during the one-minute competition. Unlike traditional bullfighting, the animals are not harmed. Bullfighters are judged solely on their ability to perform gravity-defying acrobatic stunts as close to the bull as possible without getting hit.

When competition got underway, Rich and rookie Ryan Fizer (Comanche, Texas) squared off for the first berth to Championship Saturday.

After upsetting the world No. 4 bullfighter when the second-chance bracket began, Fizer was unable to replicate his early success. Despite a good start to his bullfight, Fizer was ultimately hooked and earned just 79 points. Rich, however, dazzled on the dirt, advancing with an 80-point score as he wowed the crowd with a mid-fight cross jump.

Golden eliminated veteran Brazilian Wagner Miqueline (Zacarias, Brazil) by a score of 84-78.5.

Miqueline delivered a solid effort, however, was bumped by his animal athlete opponent and did not have enough time remaining to tally additional points. Golden capitalized in the high-pressure situation, selling his fight against one of Flat Line Fighting Bulls’ best with an impressive cross jump to claim the victory.

The third showdown of the evening featured Krepps and Cache Dunn (Waurika, Oklahoma).

Krepps advanced with ease, scored 86.5 points for his fundamentally solid bullfight, despite briefly being forced to the center gate. Dunn received a no score after he was trounced early by his bovine counterpart.

Reigning World Champion Dunn remains in contention for what would be his historic second-consecutive UBF tile as he beat Cy Ferguson (Boyd, Texas) 89.5-85.

In total control for the entirety of the fight, Dunn danced about his bull en route to his monstrous score. Despite earning a re-fight, and leaving it all on the dirt, Ferguson was unable to outscore his fellow competitor.

Rookie sensation Bowman further established himself as a fighter to watch Friday evening, advancing to Championship Saturday over Zek Smith (Folkston, Georgia), 89-87.

Smith performed his signature “Superman” move to start his fight, but the acrobatics weren’t enough to best Bowman who delivered one of the most technically sound efforts of the entire event.

Moore and Dekevis Jordan (Madill, Oklahoma) then went head-to-head for the final berth to Championship Saturday. While both turned in clean fights, Jordan struggled to connect with his bull, leading Moore to outscore him 89-87 and remain in the marathon tournament.

The intense competition for the 2022 UBF World Finals will come to a climactic end Saturday, Dec. 10 at 2 p.m. CT when the six advancing bullfighters from pool play and the six bullfighters from the second-chance bracket go head-to-head to earn one of six coveted positions in the winner-take-all shoot-out round.

In the head-to-head round, Rich, Golden, Krepps, Dunn, Bowman and Moore will be joined by Tucker Lane (Oak Grove, Missouri), Chance Moorman (Lytle, Texas), Colby Lindsey (Calvert City, Kentucky), Justin Martin (Weatherford, Texas), Dylan Idleman (Madill, Oklahoma) and Sam Marical (Ada, Oklahoma), who advanced from pool play on Dec. 3.

In the shoot-out championship round, the six advancing bullfighters will each take to the dirt one final time, with the top performer being crowned the 2022 UBF World Champion and collecting the accompanying $25,000 bonus.

Tickets for the 2022 UBF World Finals are still available and can be purchased at CowtownColiseum.com and PBR.com, or through PBR Customer Service by phone at 1-800-732-1727.

For more information about how to attend the 2022 UBF World Finals at Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas, Dec. 1-10, visit PBR.com.

Photo courtesy of Andre Silva/Bull Stock Media

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