Guilherme Marchi flashes his pearly white teeth and grins when he is addressed as “Coach” for Team Brazil for the upcoming 2020 WinStar World Casino and Resort Global Cup USA, presented by Monster Energy.

“You like that, buddy?” Marchi roars with laughter. “I am ready!”

The 37-year-old has received multiple accolades in the past year since retiring as a professional bull rider at the end of 2018.

However, Marchi becomes much more serious when the topic of his upcoming induction into the PBR Ring of Honor is brought up.

He knows just how rare it is for a bull rider to be invited into the illustrious group.

Only 46 men before him have ever achieved the prestigious honor, and Marchi will become the 47^th during the 2019 PBR Heroes & Legends Celebration at the South Point Hotel Casino & Spa on Nov. 5.

The longtime fan favorite and 2008 World Champion is the first rider since Chris Shivers (2013) to be inducted into the prestigious club as a first-ballot inductee a year after retiring.

“Oh, it is great,” Marchi said. “I am very proud to be part of this moment. It is very important for me, too. The PBR remembers what I have done here. I am proud of that. To get it right away, that shows how my career is special. Fifteen years here. All the fans. All the support. The PBR. How important I was to the sport.

“That is why I think they invited me right after the retirement.”

It is no surprise either that Marchi is being inducted into the Ring of Honor immediately.

His accolades speak for themselves.

The Brazilian bull rider has the most qualified rides all time on the premier series (635) after first making his PBR premier series debut on August 6, 2004, in Oklahoma City.

To this day, Marchi is still the only bull rider to reach 600 rides on the PBR’s premier series and was the first of three men (2004 World Champion Mike Lee and two-time World Champion J.B. Mauney) to record 500 qualified rides.

Marchi went on to qualify for 15 consecutive World Finals – never failing to qualify for the season-culminating event.

A year and a half following his debut, Marchi won the PBR World Finals (2005). Three years later, he finally got over the championship hump to become the 2008 World Champion.

Marchi put forth one of the best seasons by any World Champion. He rode a remarkable 72.55% of his bulls (74-for-102) in 2008, winning five events and posting 13 90-point rides on his way to the World Championship.

“For a guy to ride 72% like I did all year long, you need to be prepared not only physically, but more mentally because it is a lot of bulls to get on,” Marchi said. “A lot of events to go to, and also for you being the No. 1 guy, you need to talk about all these things. All the interviews, TV and stuff like that. You are going into the Finals as the favorite. You need to be pretty strong on that, too. On the other side, if you forget all of these things, you can focus on your rides and nobody can beat you. You have to be ready for all the bulls, all the interviews, the signings, all that is part of the sport.”

Marchi’s world title came after three consecutive runner-up finishes, and he would once again finish second in the world standings in 2012.

Only three times in his career has Marchi finished outside of the Top 10 of the world standings.

Marchi finished his career with 51 90-point rides, 25 event wins, three 15/15 Bucking Battle victories and the third-most earnings all time ($5.3 million).

The Ring of Honor is given annually to individuals who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the sport of professional bull riding. It is both a physical ring and a fellowship of men whose blood, sweat, heartaches and handshakes have been instrumental to the present and future success of the sport.

PBR co-founder and fellow Ring of Honor inductee Cody Lambert called Marchi’s induction a no-brainer.

“The Ring of Honor guys are supposed to be obvious,” Lambert said. “Chris Shivers, Justin McBride, Ty Murray – those guys. As soon as they retired, of course they are Ring of Honor. You knew that was coming. Guilherme, there was no doubt in anybody’s mind. There is no doubt about the impact he has made on the sport. There are obvious guys that are Ring of Honor guys, and he is one of them.”

Lambert said you could look at Marchi’s career from the beginning to the end and see that he was always dedicated to winning, helping his fellow bull riders and being an ambassador of the sport.

“He was a serious competitor right off the bat,” Lambert said. “He was really tough to get on the ground.”

Marchi exemplified what it means to be a Ring of Honor rider throughout his 15-year career.

“I never heard anybody talk about Guilherme that didn’t have a great deal of respect for him,” Lambert said. “Everything about him. He was a role model and guys looked up to him, right up to the end. The way he finished strong and the way he did the work at the end of his career. He didn’t take any shortcuts. Guys start getting tired and they start getting soft. He didn’t do that. You have to work harder when you are older. It is hard to get the job done. It takes more when you are in your mid-30s then it does when you are in your mid-20s. It takes a different kind of effort during the week. You’ve got more distractions then a young guy has.

“To finish as strong as he did, he deserves everyone’s respect, and he has it.”

Some have wondered if Marchi would have unretired and come back to competition in 2019.

Marchi laughs about the uproar he created over the summer when he jokingly posted on Instagram about making a second-half push for the World Finals.

“No, no, no,” Marchi says before letting out a hearty laugh. “I am happy to be retired. I feel a bit of emotion because of everything I have in my career comes from here. I am happy to come see the young guys and see my friends, and the sports medicine guys.

“But, I am at peace.”

This story appears in the 2019 World Finals program, which will be sold all week long during the 2019 PBR World Finals in Las Vegas.