Last year’s PBR Buck Off at the Garden was highlighted by Lucas Divino’s continuous improvement in each consecutive ride, culminating in an aggregate score 12.5 points higher than second place, despite not winning a round that weekend.

Divino isn’t riding this weekend; however, Jess Lockwood, Cort McFadden, Kase Hitt, Qynn Andersen, and Mason Taylor will all make their season debuts on Friday.

Lockwood will make not only make his UTB season debut, but will also ride in the inaugural Monster Energy Team Challenge, alongside Teams Championship MVP Clay Guiton and their Carolina Cowboy teammates, as they’re pitted against No. 1-ranked Marco Rizzo and the New York Mavericks.

All 16 bull riders competing for the Cowboys, Mavericks, Gamblers, and Rattlers Friday night will have their outs count both toward the UTB event and the Monster Energy Team Challenge.

The reigning champion Cowboys aim to upend the Mavericks on their own home turf, but it won’t be easy. The Cowboys’ Friday roster of Swearingen, Kolbaba, and Guiton has combined for a 41.6% ride percentage this season, while three Mavericks riding Friday, Rizzo, Cesar Marques, and Mitchell, are all ranked in the top 9 with a combined 56.5% ride percentage.

Before the Cowboys and Mavericks duke it out, No. 3 Ranked Dalton Kasel and the Austin Gamblers face their Lone-Star-State Rivals, the Texas Rattlers.

The Rattlers are led by second-ranked Brady Fielder, who’s coming off a perfect 3-for-3 performance in PBR Boston, where he rode Eyes On Me for 91.2 points in the Championship Round. With a 66.7% ride percentage on the year and an average score of 86.45, Fielder will aim to extend his qualified ride streak atop Hard Eight in the first Teams Challenge ride of the season.

The Gamblers’ Dalton Kasel has been nothing but exceptional this year. With an event win in Manchester, an average score of 85.87 on a 71.4% riding percentage, Kasel faces off against the undefeated Turning Point in his Friday match vs the Rattlers. Kasel has missed the previous two event championship rounds, but blink, and you might miss Kasel vaulting into the No. 1 spot in the World Standings.

No. 1 Ranked Marco Rizzo has been unstoppable this season. He has gone 5-for-8 and is averaging 87.06 points per ride, with a win at PBR Chicago scoring 90.25 on top of the No. 2 bull in the World, Man Hater. At

PBR Boston, Rizzo entered the Championshp round in 1st, but failed to stay on top of Bex RedEye. Rizzo closes the Friday night action with a Team Challenge ride atop Big Chili.

The 2025 UTB Champion, Jose Vitor Leme, made his season debut in Boston last week, but failed to secure a qualified ride. This Friday, the 3x champ rides No. 16-ranked Good Riddance, who’s on the longest buckoff streak of their career with five in a row. If Leme wants to establish his campaign for a record fourth PBR World Championship, what better setting to hit the ground running than the Garden?

John Crimber’s 2026 season started slowly, going 1-for-4 through his first 2 events. The two-time PBR Teams MVP was struggling individually until he caught fire in Boston, going 2-for-3 and finishing 3rd. He averaged a score of 87.1 on both Wild Card and Skippy.

Crimber leads the pack this weekend, jumping on Holy Roller to start Round 1, a bull he’s been bucked off before in 2024. Crimber is still only 3-for-7 on the year and whether or not he can carry over his momentum from last week’s performance will be trajectory-defining for his early season.

A thrilling weekend in the greatest arena in sports is about to ensue, and the riders are sure to put on a show.