Julio Cesar Marques Wins Career-First PBR Unleash The Beast Event at Record-Setting, Sold-Out Tour Stop in Albany, New York, Moves to World No. 3

By Kacie Albert

ALBANY, N.Y. – As a record-setting, sold-out crowd watched on Saturday night inside MVP Arena in Albany, New York, Julio Cesar Marques (Tatui, Brazil) reached a crucial career milestone, delivering a perfect 3-for-3 performance to win his first PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Unleash The Beast event, victorious at PBR Albany and surging to No. 3 in the world.

Marques, who rides for the Kansas City Outlaws in the separate PBR Teams league, was one of 10 riders who registered qualified rides on both their bulls through the opening two rounds of competition in the Empire state. After riding Underdog (Barrett/Barnes Rodeo) for 86.25 points in Round 1, he bested Gaucho (Barrett/Barnes Rodeo) for 87 points in Round 2.

With the third pick in the championship round bull draft, Marques elected to go head-to-head with Tulsa Time (Kelly & Cami Heath/McCoy Rodeo). In what proved to be a perfect pairing, Marques matched the bull jump-for-jump en route to the requisite 8 as the electric crowd erupted in boisterous cheer. The round-winning 88.75-point score enabled Marques to leapfrog three other riders who had gone 3-for-3 as he claimed his first Unleash The Beast victory.

“I’m so happy; thank you so much, God, for helping me,” Marques said after receiving his event champion buckle. “I’m strong, it broke my rope in the chute. I got the (new) rope from my friend Claudio Montanha, and I ride 8 seconds. I’m ready for New York City.”

Marques left Albany with a check for $46,090 in addition to a crucial 133 Unleash The Beast points. He surged from No. 7 to No. 3 in the race for the 2025 PBR World Championship, moving to within 121.67 points of No. 1 John Crimber (Decatur, Texas).

Crimber finished fifth at PBR Albany, netting 57 points and widening his lead in the race for this season’s gold buckle and accompanying $1 million bonus. He led the event entering the championship round courtesy of a Round 1-winning, 89.5-point ride on Umm (D4 Redline Pro/Double F Ranch) and an 86.75-point effort aboard Peyton’s Daddy (McCoy Rodeo/Outlaw Partners) in Round 2.

While the Florida Freedom’s Crimber earned a re-ride in the championship round, he was not able to cover his new opponent, whipped down byReality Check (Bull Team/Lone Star/D&H Cattle) in 5.5 seconds.

He now leads world No. 2 and the Austin Gamblers’ Dalton Kasel (Muleshoe, Texas), who did not compete inside MVP Arena, by 73 points.

In the bull pen, Cool Whip (Julian/Staci Addison/D&H/Crooked W) continued to make history, registering his unprecedented 47^th consecutive elite tour buck off – widening his all-time PBR record over Bushwacker (42). Bucking in the championship round, Cool Whip launched the Oklahoma Wildcatters’ Clay Guiton (Cherryville, North Carolina) in 2.92 seconds to earn a 44.5-point bull score.

Returning to the top of the event leaderboard, Cort McFadden (Novice, Texas) parlayed a 3-for-3 performance of his own into a second-place finish.

In a business decision, the Oklahoma Wildcatter elected to keep his 78.5-point ride on Wingman (D&H Cattle Co./Buck Cattle Co.) from Round 1, despite being offered a re-ride. He then delivered his second consecutive score in Round 2 when he made the 8 on Gene’s Best (D&H Cattle Co./Buck Cattle Co.) for 86.75 points.

The reserve Texan then punctuated his time in New York with an 88.5-point effort on Electric Kitty (Moore Cattle/D&H Cattle Co.) in the championship round.

Earning 80 Unleash The Beast points for his silver showing, McFadden catapulted from No. 28 to No. 9 in the standings, propelled within 246.75 points of No. 1 Crimber.

The Texas Rattlers’ Brady Fielder (Clermont, Queensland, Australia) was third, garnering 64 Unleash The Beast points.

Fielder rode Thriller (McCoy Rodeo/Jacobson) for 86.5 points in Round 1, Martins Maniac (Dave Martin/Mike Miller Bucking Bulls) for 77.75 points in Round 2, and Manaba (Joe & Nina Webb/Julian/D&H Cattle Co.) for 87.5 points in the championship round.

Chasing his first World Championship this May, the Australian rose from No. 31 to No. 17 in the standings.

As the only other rider to go a flawless 3-for-3 at PBR Albany, the New York Mavericks’ Hudson Bolton (Milan, Tennessee) was fourth.

Bolton advanced to the championship round via his 87.75-point ride aboard Mr. Vaquero (Lone Star BBG/D&H Cattle/Buck Cattle) from Round 1, and 74.25-point score on Gangster Show (Pro Genetics Bucking Bulls LLC) from Round 2. In his final out inside MVP Arena, Bolton dominatedFire Magic (Bob & Jeri Adams/D&H Cattle Co.), marked 84.25 points.

Collecting 51.5 Unleash The Beast points for the Top 5 finish, Bolton climbed from No. 32 to No. 22 in the standings.

Back in the bull pen, Charmer (D&H Cattle Co./Buck Cattle Co.) bucked supreme, crowned the YETI “Built for the Wild” Bull of the Event. In the championship round, Charmer was marked an unrivaled 46 points for his 2.52 seconds of work against Claudio Montanha Jr. (Ribeirao dos Indios, Brazil).

Both days of action from Albany were available LIVE and FREE on PBR’s X channel (https://x.com/PBR), RidePass on Pluto TV, PBR’s YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@pbr), PBR’s mobile app (https://qrco.de/bdtdKp), and PBR’s app on connected TVs, including Apple TV, Fire TV, Roku and Google TV.

The PBR Unleash The Beast next travels to Madison Square Garden in New York City. The event will begin at 7:45 p.m. ET on Friday, January 3 and Saturday, January 4, and 2:45 p.m. ET on Sunday, January 5. Tickets are still available and can be purchased online at ticketmaster.com, MSG.com and PBR.com, or by calling PBR customer service at 1-800-732-1727.

PBR RidePass on Pluto TV will offer re-airs and on-demand replays of PBR Unleash The Beast events and is available on desktops, laptops and mobile devices via www.pluto.tv.

PBR Unleash The Beast
PBR Albany
MVP Arena – Albany, New York
Event Leaders (Round 1-Round 2-Round 3-Event Aggregate-Event Points)

1. Julio Cesar Marques, 86.25-87-88.75-262.00-133 Points.
2. Cort McFadden, 78.5-86.75-88.5-253.75-80 Points.
3. Brady Fielder, 86.5-77.75-87.5-251.75-64 Points.
4. Hudson Bolton, 87.75-74.25-84.25-246.25-51.5 Points.
5. John Crimber, 89.5-86.75-0-176.25-57 Points.
6. Austin Richardson, 88.5-0-87.25-175.75-45.5 Points.
7. João Ricardo Vieira, 87-88.25-0-175.25-46 Points.
8. Daniel Keeping, 88.5-80-0-168.50-30.5 Points.
9. Luciano De Castro, 81.75-84.75-0-166.50-20 Points.
10. Kaiden Loud, 73-86.75-0-159.75-14 Points.
11. Sage Steele Kimzey, 85.5-73.5-0-159.00-10 Points.
12. Clay Guiton, 0-87.75-0-87.75-17.5 Points.

(tie). Keyshawn Whitehorse, 0-87.75-0-87.75-17.5 Points.

(tie). Mauricio Gulla Moreira, 87.75-0-0-87.75-15.5 Points.

15. Claudio Montanha Jr., 87.5-0-0-87.50-13.5 Points.

(tie). Lucas Divino, 0-87.5-0-87.50-16 Points.

(tie). Eduardo Matos, 87.5-0-0-87.50-13.5 Points.

18. Boudreaux Campbell, 0-86.75-0-86.75-12 Points.

(tie). Alex Cerqueira, 0-86.75-0-86.75-12 Points.

20. Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, 0-86-0-86.00-9 Points.
21. Wyatt Rogers, 0-85.5-0-85.50-8 Points.
22. Adriano Salgado, 0-85.25-0-85.25-8 Points.

(tie). Marco Rizzo, 85.25-0-0-85.25-8 Points.

24. Elizmar Jeremias, 0-83-0-83.00-8 Points.

(tie). Felipe Furlan, 0-83-0-83.00-8 Points.

Derek Kolbaba, 0-0-0-0.00

Dener Barbosa, 0-0-0-0.00

Leonardo Castro, 0-0-0-0.00

Koltin Hevalow, 0-0-0-0.00

Mason Taylor, 0-0-0-0.00

Sandro Batista, 0-0-0-0.00

Thiago Salgado, 0-0-0-0.00

Rogério Venâncio, 0-0-0-0.00

Vinicius Pinheiro Correa, 0-0-0-0.00

Jake Morinec, 0-0-0-0.00

Paulo Henrique da Silva, 0-0-0-0.00

Tanner Eno, 0-0-0-0.00

2025 PBR Unleash The Beast Standings

(Place, Rider, Events, Wins, Top 5’s, Points, Total Winnings)

1. John Crimber, 6, 2, 3, 375.00, $123,815.00
2. Dalton Kasel, 5, 1, 3, 302.00, $86,300.00
3. Julio Cesar Marques, 6, 1, 2, 253.33, $73,781.67
4. Sage Steele Kimzey, 6, 0, 1, 179.25, $40,475.00
5. Derek Kolbaba, 6, 1, 1, 164.00, $49,840.00
6. Kaiden Loud, 6, 0, 1, 149.00, $30,317.50
7. Jose Vitor Leme, 5, 1, 1, 147.50, $50,883.33
8. Claudio Montanha Jr., 6, 0, 1, 129.50, $16,140.00
9. Cort McFadden, 6, 0, 1, 128.25, $24,892.50
10. Adriano Salgado, 6, 0, 1, 127.33, $21,290.00
11. Andrew Alvidrez, 4, 0, 1, 118.75, $28,283.33
12. Dener Barbosa, 6, 0, 1, 112.50, $13,025.00
13. Luciano De Castro, 5, 0, 1, 110.50, $10,700.00
14. Leonardo Castro, 6, 0, 1, 109.25, $18,225.00
15. Lucas Divino, 6, 0, 1, 108.50, $15,683.33
16. Austin Richardson, 6, 0, 1, 105.50, $15,290.00
17. Brady Fielder, 4, 0, 1, 100.00, $14,690.00
18. Anderson de Oliveira, 4, 0, 1, 99.50, $9,250.00
19. Daniel Keeping, 4, 0, 1, 99.00, $14,700.00
20. Koltin Hevalow, 6, 0, 1, 95.50, $14,600.00
21. Elizmar Jeremias, 6, 0, 1, 91.00, $10,900.00
22. Hudson Bolton, 3, 0, 1, 86.50, $9,490.00
23. Mason Taylor, 6, 0, 1, 85.33, $7,291.67
24. Clay Guiton, 6, 0, 0, 84.00, $8,058.33
25. Keyshawn Whitehorse, 5, 0, 0, 81.00, $7,985.83
26. Eduardo Aparecido, 5, 0, 1, 80.50, $9,700.00
27. Kaique Pacheco, 5, 0, 0, 77.00, $6,400.00
28. Dawson Branton, 5, 0, 0, 71.00, $6,600.00
29. Sandro Batista, 6, 0, 0, 64.33, $3,066.67
30. João Ricardo Vieira, 5, 0, 0, 62.00, $7,400.00
31. Thiago Salgado, 6, 0, 0, 51.50, $7,200.00
32. Rogério Venâncio, 6, 0, 0, 45.58, $2,000.00
33. Paulo Eduardo Rossetto, 6, 0, 0, 43.75, $1,737.50
34. Vinicius Pinheiro Correa, 2, 0, 1, 43.00, $7,100.00
35. Boudreaux Campbell, 6, 0, 0, 38.33, $290.00
36. Alex Cerqueira, 5, 0, 0, 30.00, $290.00
37. Marco Rizzo, 5, 0, 0, 26.25, $0.00
38. Daylon Swearingen, 2, 0, 0, 25.00, $2,250.00
39. Alan de Souza, 4, 0, 0, 23.00, $450.00
40. Wyatt Rogers, 2, 0, 0, 22.00, $600.00
41. JaCauy Hale, 3, 0, 0, 18.00, $4,000.00
42. Jake Morinec, 2, 0, 0, 17.25, $2,400.00
43. Mauricio Gulla Moreira, 5, 0, 0, 15.50, $1,383.33
44. Cassio Dias, 1, 0, 0, 14.50, $700.00
45. Eduardo Matos, 3, 0, 0, 13.50, $525.00