A year ago at Madison Square Garden, Leandro Zampollo couldn’t stay on his bull.

The Buck Off at the Garden in 2025 was unforgiving, another chapter in a rookie UTB season that rarely offered mercy. Zampollo left New York without a qualified ride, buried in the standings, and staring at the possibility of slipping back to the Velocity Tour he had just escaped.

Twelve months later, the Garden told a different story.

Zampollo rides for the New York Mavericks, but he was not one of the four Maverick riders  selected to compete in the season’s inaugural Teams Challenge. In fact, he has yet to record an out for the team.

With no spotlight on him, he would need to find a way to get everyone’s attention in the World’s Most Famous Arena.

In 2025, he finished 33rd in the World with just eight qualified rides in 41 outs, a 19.51% success rate, the worst among the top 50 riders. Even when he made the whistle, the numbers followed suit. His average score of 84.03 ranked 45th of 50. It took five events and 12 outs to earn his first qualified ride, and while a sixth-place finish at PBR Salt Lake City hinted at potential, he only managed six more rides the rest of the season.

Prior to his arrival in NYC, he had already reached new heights in his PBR career. He was 3-for-3 in Chicago and finished third overall. His 86.6 score atop Crazy Sox in the Championship Round capped off Zampollo’s longest ride streak of his UTB career at four.

Zampollo went 1-for-2 in Boston, which put him 5-for-7 through three UTB events.

Enter, New York City.

With no Team Challenge ride to worry about, Zampollo was slated against Rocket Man in Round 1. Rocket Man had only been ridden four times before with an average bull score of 42.2. Zampollo was bucked off the side in 4.20 seconds, as he couldn’t adjust to Rocket Man turning away from his hand.

Now, he was 5-for-8 on the year, and was facing a potentially momentum-killing ride in Round 2 against an undefeated bull, The Hondo. Zampollo didn’t falter. The Hondo spun away from his hand, but Zampollo remained in control, maintaining aggression with his outside leg. This aggression paid off as Zampollo bested the unridden bull and was rewarded with the best score of his UTB career, 87.8, to win the round.

The elated Brazilian flung his helmet, fist pumped, posed and made sure the already energized New York crowd felt just was hyped as him.

In Round 3, Zampollo was paired against Bucktown, a well-performing, rideable Bull, who had given John Crimber a tough time the night before. Bucktown tested Zampollo’s patience in the chute, but he remained in control through all eight seconds of the ride once, earning him a score of 85.65, and placing him tied for sixth going into the Championship Round.

Yet again, Zampollo didn’t fail to find cause for celebration, backflipping off of The Cage in the center arena.

He had the seventh pick in the Championship Bull Draft, where he chose the No. 12 bull in the World, Bex Red Eye, who had already gotten the better of both John Crimber and Cody Jesus in an average of 2.17 seconds this season.

The enormous Bex Red Eye exploded out of the chute and as he had been the two previous rounds, Zampollo was there on every jump, besting the beast for a career high 90.85.

Zampollo electrified the sold-out Garden, culminating in his go-to backflip celebration, creating a moment nobody would forget.

The 24-year-old has been able to reinvent himself in a very short amount of time. With his PBR New York performance, he has already doubled his UTB career qualified rides in a quarter of the outs. Zampollo, who carried a dismal 19.51% riding percentage in 2025, now has the best riding percentage among those with at least 10 outs in the 2026 season at 72.73%

His mechanical understanding has improved, no doubt, but his confidence feels unshakable. Every Zampollo backflip, fist-pump, and exclamation communicates the euphoria of believing in himself, and it’s paying off.

He will enter next weekend’s event in Milwaukee ranked No. 5 in the World.