FORT WORTH, Texas – Following Round 4 of the 2025 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast – Eliminations at Cowtown Coliseum, Jose Vitor Leme walked into the locker room and discovered his new placement in the Unleash The Beast standings.

“Six? Okay, well, that’s a good spot,” he said with a chuckle. “That means I’m still in the fight. I know that it depends on results, but I’m still there. I’m going to keep fighting.”

For most bull riders, being ranked No. 6 in the world is incredible, a career season. But for Leme, who’s finished worse than No. 5 in the world just twice since making his UTB debut – once in 2017, when he competed in just one UTB event, and once in 2024, when he missed almost the full season due to injury – being ranked No. 6 signals that there’s still work to be done.

Of course, being ranked No. 6 is an incredible feat considering Leme has competed in just 13 events this season. He made it through eight early-season events before a broken hand sidelined him from the end of January through early April, returning in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, ranked No. 31.

In the last month of the regular season, Leme rattled off three Top-10 finishes in four events, including two Top-5s, and went 8-for-12 (66.7%). He earned 206.5 points towards the standings and began the World Finals ranked No. 18 – outside the Top 15 cutline to advance directly to the Championship at AT&T Stadium on May 17-18.

But World Finals, Leme knows, is the gamechanger.

“I was pretty confident. I was feeling good, and I never doubted it,” he said. “Everything was fine for me. I was feeling good, and my hand was good enough to ride all those bulls without any problems. I just want to do my part, and I know I’m going to do it.”

An important note about Leme is that he’s one of the best riders at World Finals in PBR history. Before 2025, Leme was a career 29-for-43 (67%) with two World Finals event titles.

That has since improved, as Leme went 4-for-4 to win Eliminations. Not only did he rise to No. 6 in the world, he also punched his ticket to AT&T Stadium with authority.

Rounds 1 & 2 of the Championship air on Saturday, May 17, at 8:45 p.m. ET on RidePass, the PBR App, YouTube, X and Facebook, and at 9 p.m. ET on the Cowboy Channel.

RELATED: Leme: “I still think that I can win the Finals and change the whole game”

“I’m feeling good,” he said. “I’m feeling confident. That brings me a lot of confidence now, for sure. After you win, everything helps out, so I’m just feeling good. I’m healthy – that’s the most important thing.

“And riding good,” he added with a laugh.

While Leme is always – always – focused on winning the world title, he does know that being as high as he now is in the standings is a big deal.

“I’m happy where I am now, because I had so many tough moments this season, with injuries and trying to ride feeling pain and all that, so I had to stay out for I don’t know how many events,” he said. “To be in sixth right now, it’s amazing. This means a lot to me, especially for my confidence. If I’m No. 6 now, with all those events I was out, that means that I did great at the ones that I went to.”

For those unfamiliar with Leme’s history, let’s recap.

In 2017, Leme made his U.S. debut at the Velocity Tour Finals, qualifying for the 2017 PBR World Finals, which he subsequently swept and won to take Rookie of the Year honors and finish No. 7 in the world standings.

He finished No. 2 in the standings in both 2018 and 2019, and won world titles in 2020 and 2021. His 2021 season is widely considered the greatest single season in PBR history, as he set or tied five records: most 90-point rides in a season (24), most round wins in a season (21), highest-scoring qualified ride (98.75 points), highest rider score (50 points), highest average ride score in a season (89.82 points), and most event wins in a season (8, tied with Justin McBride).

Since then, Leme has been hampered by injury and has been unable to complete a full campaign, even missing almost the entire 2024 UTB season.

He dealt with groin issues in 2022 (when he was unable to finish out the World Finals due to injury) and 2023 (when he competed in just 12 regular-season events), but still finished No. 5 and No. 2 in the world, respectively.

Leme was drafted by the Austin Gamblers with the No. 1 overall pick in the inaugural PBR Team Series draft and won the regular-season MVP award in 2022 and 2023. In 2024, he won the PBR Camping World Team Series Championship, adding a third gold buckle to his collection.

But it’s been some time since he’s finished a season strong and really threatened for a world title, and the game has changed since he hoisted the Jerome Robinson trophy in 2021.

“It’s a whole different competition for me because no one in there was in the competition for the title with me before,” Leme said. “So it’s different. I don’t have any rivals in the locker room, or especially with these top five guys (in Eliminations). It’s going to be new for me. But they’re doing good. They’re doing great. They’re riding good, and it’ll be fun. It’ll be fun competing against them, for sure.”

Indeed, Leme, now 28 years old, beat out a trio of youngsters in the Eliminations aggregate, as Clay Guiton (19), Kaiden Loud (20) and Hudson Bolton (19) finished second, third and fourth, respectively.

“Still got it,” he said with a laugh. “Still got some gas to go to the end.”

This is Leme’s first time competing in the new World Finals format. Since he qualified directly to the Championship, he can skip Ride For Redemption and instead go home for the week.

But don’t worry about it killing his momentum.

“I think it’s good to get some rest and go home a little bit, refresh your mind,” he said. “I’m going to keep moving, not just sit on my couch and just watch TV. I’m going to keep thinking about the World Finals, keep concentrating, and just do my normal routine like after every event, and keep going.

“I’m very motivated for next weekend. I know it’s going to be tough, but I’m just so glad to be there.”

Photo courtesy of Bull Stock Media