PUEBLO, Colo. – In bull riding, injuries are a matter of when, not if.

Unfortunately for 2018 World Champion Kaique Pacheco, the “when” of it all turned out to be the worst possible moment.

In Tacoma, Washington – the second-to-last Unleash The Beast event of the regular season – Pacheco, who sits at No. 1 in the Unleash The Beast standings, fractured his right tibia and fibula and underwent surgery the next day.

It soon became apparent that returning to competition for the 2023 PBR World Finals on May 12-21 in Fort Worth, Texas, was out of the question. Pacheco has officially withdrawn and is unable to pursue his second world title.

“After thinking a lot and talking with the doctors, it was decided that I will not participate in the Finals this year,” Pacheco said in an Instagram post. “A very difficult decision for me, but I believe that it will be the best one at that moment, mainly for my health. I thank God for another blessed season, my fiancée, family and friends who have always been by my side, all the fans for their constant cheering and support and my sponsors who have been with me at all times. Soon I’ll be back doing what I love.”

It was another stellar season for Pacheco, who has been one of the most reliable performers on the Unleash The Beast since winning Rookie of the Year and finishing No. 3 in the world in 2015. He won the 2018 World Championship and has finished No. 2 three times – 2016, 2021, and 2022. Injuries kept him out for most of 2019, which turned into a lost season, but he finished No. 5 in 2017 and No. 7 in 2020.

This season, he won two events – the PBR Gwinnett Chute Out in Duluth, Georgia, in January, and the PBR Brew City Classic in Milwaukee in March – and the 15/15 Bucking Battle in Indianapolis in January. He notched an additional seven Top-5 finishes and leads No. 2 Jose Vitor Leme in the standings by 74 points.

In 2018, he famously overcame a serious injury to win his world title. Just days before the World Finals, at the Velocity Tour Finals, he tore his MCL and PCL, but he managed to hang on and outlast Leme to win the gold buckle.

“Yeah, I think about (the injury), but I say to myself, ‘I won’t let that injury stop me. I will give my best to ride my bulls and try to make my job no matter what,’” Pacheco told PBR.com in March.

This injury in 2023, however, was simply too much to overcome in such a short time.

Pacheco will turn his attention to rehabbing for the PBR Team Series season, for which he returns to the defending champion Nashville Stampede. That season begins at Cheyenne Frontier Days on July 24-25.

Pacheco’s absence at the World Finals opens the door for Leme to potentially make history with a third World Championship. He’s followed in the standings by No. 3 Dalton Kasel, No. 4 Cooper Davis and No. 5 Dener Barbosa.

Another gold buckle will have to wait for Pacheco.

“I think that’s the life we have, ups and downs,” Pacheco said in March. “You never can stop. You need to keep going, keep working hard.”

Photo courtesy of Josh Homer/Bull Stock Media