By: Darci Miller
PUEBLO, Colo. – This past weekend at the Kubota PBR Houston, presented by Michelob ULTRA, Ednelio Almeida finished fourth overall – the best finish of his two-year Unleash The Beast career.
While there’s still more he wants to accomplish, simply getting this far is a win in itself.
Almeida didn’t start bull riding until he was 18 years old and played soccer growing up in Cacoal, Brazil. While he tried to follow his brothers into the sport when he was younger, they insisted he not do it until he was 100% sure it was what he wanted. So Almeida, a dedicated student in school and the church, waited until he finished his studies.
Meanwhile, his father bought a ranch in a different state, and Almeida said he would help him take care of it.
“And then I didn’t, because I had to play soccer,” Almeida said with the help of Paulo Crimber translating. “And then my dad had too much on his hands, and he was talking about selling the place, and when this next (soccer state) championship got canceled, I decided to quit and go help my dad and not let him sell the place. That’s when I went back to Mato Grosso state, and I was only playing in the communities over by the ranches. And I started riding more, getting a better taste for bulls, and that’s when I went to riding 100%.”
Almeida began competing in PBR Brazil in 2018, finishing seventh in the standings despite not competing the full season. Because of his impressive performance, PBR Brazil wrote him a letter of recommendation to get a visa to come to the United States.
But Almeida wanted a full season in PBR Brazil, so he stayed to give it one more go in 2019. He was leading the standings at the beginning of the season, but he got into a car wreck and wasn’t able to finish.
“I was out for a while,” Almeida said. “I didn’t go to the embassy until 2020, but that was during the pandemic, and they couldn’t do anything until 2022. That’s two years I was sitting around because of the pandemic. And then, they finally called me for an interview in 2022. That’s when I got it and came over.”
Almeida was able to stay busy during that time, competing at small events between riders and stock contractors in Sao Paulo state.
“I was riding a little bit, but I was frustrated because I was planning on coming in the beginning of 2020,” he said. “But because of that, I couldn’t, and I got really frustrated when I was sitting around for almost two years because the events didn’t start back until almost the end of 2021, and that was kind of the toughest part.”
Almeida finally made it to the United States in 2022 at 28 years old, competing in his first event on U.S. soil in March on the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour. He then competed for the Texas Rattlers in the inaugural PBR Teams season, making his Unleash The Beast debut in April 2023.
This past PBR Teams season, he went 2-for-11 for the Nashville Stampede.
Back on the UTB, Almeida has turned things up a notch. Now 30, he’s 8-for-23 (34%) so far this season with three Top 10 finishes, including his fourth-place showing in Houston.
He’s currently ranked No. 25 in the Unleash The Beast World Championship standings heading into this weekend’s PBR Wrangler Long Live Cowboys Classic in Sacramento, California, the second PBR Major of the season. Almeida takes on Cherry Bomb in Round 1 (Friday, Feb. 2 at 10:45 p.m. ET on RidePass on Pluto TV).
In Houston, he rode Hoka Hey for 85.25 points in Round 1 and followed that up with 83.5 points on Skippy in Round 2. He fell just short of a 3-for-3 showing when he was bucked off by Flyin Wired in the championship round.
It was a bittersweet loss, as his traveling partner and close friend Wingson Henrique da Silva took the event crown.
“It’s a little bit of frustration because you want to ride the short-round bull and win the event, but I felt good also about riding good,” Almeida said. “I feel like I’m starting to find my way at that level. On the other hand, for my travel buddy to win the event, that’s pretty awesome too. There’s always something negative about when you don’t win or you bucked off or something happens, and at the same time, it’s an automatic change because your partner just won.
“It’s a very scrambled feeling, but it’s a good one.”
Photo courtesy of Todd Brewer/Bull Stock Media
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