UNCASVILLE, Conn. - Second-ranked J.B. Mauney, who has missed the past two events after having a broken bone in his left (riding) hand surgically repaired, will switch to riding with his right hand down as he competes in the Mohegan Sun Invitational presented by Cooper Tires this weekend.

Mauney was ranked first for seven weeks before being overtaken by Valdiron de Oliveira two weeks ago.

The two top-ranked rivals will join 33 of the world's Top 35 bull riders, and the best bulls as the Built Ford Tough Series comes back to the Constitution State and the Mohegan Sun Arena.

Mohegan Sun will host the Built Ford Tough Series Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Fans will not want to miss the chance to witness thrilling 8-second rides and jaw-dropping wrecks throughout the adrenaline-soaked performance as the PBR's insanely brave cowboys risk it all against monstrous animal athletes that can weigh as much as 2,000 pounds.

Tickets begin at $15, and can be purchased at www.Ticketmaster.com, and by telephone at (800) 745-3000. Bull riding begins at 8 p.m. ET on Friday, April 27, and Saturday, April 28, and at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 29.

Competing for more than $140,000 in total prize money, each of the Top 35 riders in the world will ride on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Friday will also include the PBR 15/15 Bucking Battle, which has the Top 15 riders in the world competing against the 15 highest-ranked bulls at the event. It will be held immediately following Round 1, and will be broadcast in its entirety on CBS at 2 p.m. ET this Saturday, April 28. Following Round 3 on Sunday, the riders with the 10 highest cumulative scores will advance to the Built Ford Tough Championship Round, where they will each compete with one more bull. The overall event winner will be the rider with the highest combined score from all four regular-format rounds.

In 2010, Silvano Alves rode Unabomber for 90.5 points to win the Mohegan Sun Invitational.

The BFTS features the best and highest-paid bull riders on the planet, including defending PBR World Champion Silvano Alves, who earned $2 million in less than two years, which is faster than any bull rider in history. The 24-year-old, who is currently ranked fifth in the BFTS standings, is the only rider to win the PBR World Championship in the season immediately after earning Rookie of the Year.

The last time the PBR visited Uncasville in 2010, Alves rode all four bulls to win his third event, which became the most wins ever by a Rookie of the Year. The past four PBR World Champions are scheduled to compete this weekend, with Alves, Renato Nunes (2010), Kody Lostroh (2009), and Guilherme Marchi (2008). Marchi has posted back-to-back second-place finishes to move up to sixth in the rankings, while Nunes is seventh.

Marco Eguche is ranked third behind Oliveira and Mauney, and has seven Top 3 finishes, while L.J. Jenkins is fourth, following four Top 3 finishes in a row.

Uncasville is the fourth of nine scheduled PBR 15/15 Bucking Battles. The special round, which has an additional purse of $21,000, replaces the usual first short round. Points and money earned in the PBR 15/15 Bucking Battle do not count toward the event result, but they do count toward the BFTS season standings, and qualification for the Built Ford Tough World Finals.

Round 1 will be broadcast in its entirety live on YouTube at the Professional Bull Riders Channel this Friday, April 27, at 8 p.m. ET. CBS Sports Network will broadcast action from Round 2 at 10 p.m. ET this Saturday, April 28, with an encore airing at 1 a.m. ET on Sunday, April 29. CBS Sports Network will broadcast action from Round 3 and the Built Ford Tough Championship Round at 6 p.m. ET this Sunday, April 29. There will be encore airings on Sunday, April 29, at 10 p.m. ET, and on Monday, April 30, at 1 a.m. ET.

The Mohegan Sun Invitational presented by Cooper Tires will be the 16th stop on the BFTS, which opened the 2012 season on Jan. 6-8 with capacity crowds at Madison Square Garden in New York. The BFTS will make 28 stops in 23 states before the Built Ford Tough World Finals in Las Vegas on Oct. 24-28, 2012. The World Finals are where the PBR World Champion will be crowned and awarded the coveted Championship Buckle and a $1 million bonus. The richest bull riding event in the world, the World Finals has a total purse of more than $2 million.

The BFTS is televised every week on CBS, CBS Sports Network, NBC, NBC Sports Network, and YouTube. BFTS telecasts are produced for the PBR under a multi-year agreement with David Neal Productions, a Los Angeles-based production company led by 34-time Emmy® Award winner and Peabody Award winner David Neal, who serves as executive producer.