TUCSON, Ariz. – Last Unleash The Beast season, Cassio Dias and John Crimber duked it out for the world title in a battle that came down to the wire, with Dias ultimately hanging on to become the 2024 PBR World Champion.

A week and a half ago, Dias and Crimber packed themselves into a truck to drive to the Hondo Rodeo Fest in Phoenix, Arizona, together.

“We had a 14-hour car ride together,” Crimber said with a laugh in his voice.

While the fiercest rivals on the dirt, the two have actually become very friendly off it. While Crimber was born in Decatur, Texas, he’s 100% Brazilian and speaks fluent Portuguese, which allows him easy communication with Dias, who’s only lived in the United States for a year and a half.

“We have a good friendship,” Dias said with the help of Bruno Zecchin translating. “John is an inspiration for me as well because I’ve been watching John riding since he was a kid. John is young, but he’s old riding bulls. It’s pretty cool riding with him. Each one of us is focusing on our bulls and riding our bulls, but there’s this fight we want to have. John is promising me that he’s going to fight me, so we’re going to have this fight and see who wins. But it’s all friend stuff, and it’s good.”

When asked about this fight, Crimber sighs.

“He thinks he can beat me in a fight,” he said. “It’s not going to happen.”

Across the locker room at the PBR Tucson in Tucson, Arizona, Dias jokingly punches his hand and makes slashing motions. Crimber relents.

“On the way back, he went to sleep, and I did start messing with him, hitting him in the head,” Crimber said. “He’d wake up and be like, ‘What is going on?’ I’d be like, ‘Ssshhh, go back to sleep, cowboy.’”

At this, Crimber laughs.

“We stopped by this Billy the Kid museum,” he said. “I don’t even know where he saw it. He saw it on a sign, I guess. He said, ‘Hey, let’s stop there.’ I said, ‘Hey cowboy, you’ve still got a 10-hour drive. No.’ We stopped, and we were there for like an hour, and he bought some stuff. I did enjoy it, but his whole character is just himself. He doesn’t care about titles or nothing. He’s just out there having a good time, enjoying riding bulls because that’s what he came here to do.”

Beyond the joking around and whatever this fight will be, Crimber echoes Dias’s sentiment that the other is an inspiration.

“Every time we show up to a bull riding, we’re helping each other,” he said. “It’s a really cool moment for me, honestly, a guy like him, just going out there and sharing those moments with him, because he’s a guy that beat me a lot this season. So just going out there and having fun like traveling partners, it was a really good time. Every time we’d get to see the draw – there was no hard bull we couldn’t ride. Everything we could ride. It was good conversations, positive. That’s why he’s a world champ, that’s for sure. That’s why I like traveling with a guy like him.”

Dias had one of the best premier series seasons of all time in 2024. He won seven events – one shy of tying the record for most event wins in a single season – and went 41-for-76 (53%) with nine 90-point rides en route to the world title.

However, Crimber was right there with him. He was even better during the recently concluded PBR Camping World Team Series season, winning both the regular-season and postseason MVP awards.

Simply put, Dias and Crimber have been the most dominant duo in the league since making their UTB debuts in Tucson, Arizona, one year ago. In the last 12 months, Dias is 63-for-112 (56%) with 15 90-point rides, while Crimber is 59-for-110 (54%) with 12 90-point rides.

They couldn’t be statistically closer, but Dias is the one with a gold buckle to defend this season. He’s also sporting the black and green of Monster Energy as his new main sponsor, which he says is another dream coming true for him.

Still, you won’t find him grandstanding in the locker room.

“I prefer to be humble because God is the owner of everything, and he knows everything, and I can’t come in here and say, ‘the title is mine, and you’ve got to work hard to get it from me,’” Dias said. “I prefer going bull by bull and focusing on each bull and staying humble. I always cheer for my partners, my friends, and I know that everybody in here is working for the same goal: to become the World Champion. Each one of them are hard workers, good riders, and I can’t come in here, ‘I’m the best and you guys have got to be better.’ No. We are all the same, and I’m always cheering for my friends. But I keep dreaming for this world title, and I’ll keep working hard for this.”

Despite having run the table last season, Dias says he doesn’t feel all that different being in the locker room in Tucson this year vs. last year.

“It’s about the same,” he said. “I still have my fears. I’m a human being. It’s not that, just because I became the World Champion, I changed. I keep my fears and uncertainty. But I’m going to do the same – keep focused, put it in God’s hands, and keep doing my job.”

Meanwhile, Crimber – also newly sponsored by Monster Energy – says his outlook on this season is completely different than last year.

“I feel like, last year, I showed up just to show up,” he said. “I didn’t expect nothing much. I didn’t expect myself to win. But now, I’ve got my experience, and now I’m expecting to go out there and win every time.”

Both Crimber and Dias got their 2025 seasons off to a strong start in Tucson. As the last two riders out in Round 1, Crimber rode Sucker Pop for 89.5 points to place second in the round, while Dias rode Washita Red for 88.25 points to tie for fifth.

The two will be back in action on Saturday in Round 2 at 8:45 p.m. ET on RidePass on Pluto TV and the PBR’s YouTube channel.

Tucson is just the start of a very long season, and the sport’s hottest young superstars are ready to pursue the gold buckle.

They may or may not fight off the dirt, but they’ll surely be locked in a fierce battle on it.

“I mean, if you want me to be honest, this is what we live for,” Crimber said. “This is what I dreamed of as a kid: to go out there and fight for a world title. I love the Teams season. It’s fun being out there with the team format, but this shows who the real man is. That gold buckle, that’s where it all matters. So we’re just going to go at it bull for bull and weekend for weekend and see how it plays out.”

Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media