T-Mobile Moments: Davis Wins First World Title in 2016
By: Justin Felisko
PUEBLO, Colo. – The 2021 PBR World Finals are less than five months away from getting underway at T-Mobile Arena on Nov. 3-7.
Throughout 2016-19, the state-of-the-art venue has produced a series of memorable moments in PBR lore. During its inaugural PBR World Finals, it was Cooper Davis digging deep on Championship Sunday to stun Kaique Pacheco and win the 2016 World Championship.
“The money doesn’t matter, but fulfilling that dream of being able to wear that buckle for the rest of my life matters. I want to win that gold buckle,” Davis said earlier that morning.
A year after thinking he would never be a World Champion, Davis’s rededication to his fitness and the sport of professional bull riding paid off in 2016 with a gold buckle.
Davis overcame a 226.58-point deficit in the world standings on the final day of the 2016 World Finals to usurp Pacheco and win his first World Championship. Pacheco bucked off Slinger Jr. in 6.46 seconds in the championship round, clinching the title for Davis after he had won Round 5 with a 91-point ride on Catfish John.
Davis was the No. 1 bull rider in the world when he broke his collarbone in Thackerville, Oklahoma after he had won back-to-back events (Nashville, Tennessee, and Tulsa, Oklahoma). Despite an injury that could keep a rider out months, Davis underwent surgery on Sept. 14 and returned to action in only 17 days (missing two events) to continue his championship pursuit. Thirty-two days after Dr. Tandy Freeman used a steel plate and three screws to fix his clavicle, Davis swept the event title and 15/15 Bucking Battle in San Jose, California, to regain the No. 1 ranking.
It was a wild season in which Davis’s Nashville PBR Major victory (one that ultimately won him the world title) came thanks to Fabiano Vieira’s inability to advance because of an injury after he had originally eliminated Davis from the bracket-style event.
Then, Championship Sunday at the 2016 World Finals almost saw J.B. Mauney leave T-Mobile Arena with a third World Championship when it looked as if he made a mid-90s-point ride on Stone Sober before a judge’s review ruled a slap.
In 14 months, much had changed for Davis.
He increased his riding percentage by almost 22%, won his first PBR World Championship, won three premier series events and a 15/15 Bucking Battle, and earned more than $1.6 million since beginning his diet and workout regimen that resulted in a 24-pound weight loss.
Five years later, Davis today appears on track to potentially win a second gold buckle inside T-Mobile Arena.
The No. 3-ranked bull rider in the world is only 252.5 points behind world leader Jose Vitor Leme with the Unleash The Beast on its summer break until Last Cowboy Standing at Cheyenne Frontier Days on July 26-27 in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Davis is riding at a career-best 60.53% and has already tied his career-high with six 90-point rides in the first half.
The 27-year-old is 23-for-38 with event victories in Omaha, Nebraska, and Jacksonville, Florida, and five round wins. Not only could Davis become the seventh rider in PBR history to win multiple world titles, but he also has a chance at being the fifth rider to win more than one PBR World Finals event title.
Davis will compete sparingly at some summer Touring Pro Division events before Cheyenne, as will Leme. Davis is taking this weekend off, while Leme will attempt to build off his victory last weekend in Bismarck, North Dakota, when he heads to Rocksprings, Texas, for the Slick Rock Challenge.
Here is a look at Davis’s Top-5 rides in the first half of 2021
94 points on Chiseled (Kansas City, Missouri)
92.25 points on WSM Trail of Tears (Omaha, Nebraska)
91.75 points on Mike’s Motive (Jacksonville, Florida)
91.25 points on Ridin Solo (Okeechobee, Florida)
90 points on Mr. Winston (Glendale, Arizona) and Born To Sin (Del Rio, Texas)
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media
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