FORT WORTH, Texas – Sometimes, you can just tell it’s been a Hot Bull Summer.
Or that, perhaps, another is approaching.
Yet, both seem to be the case in Mid-May after seeing Man Hater pronounce himself as the world’s rankest bovine once more.
After winning his first YETI PBR World Champion Bull honors one year ago inside AT&T Stadium, home to the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, the world’s top-ranked bull was afforded a bit of a vacation, eventually allotted some well-deserved time on stock contractor Gene Owen’s cows.
Both as a “thank you” for his bucking efforts and as a means to continue the revered animal athlete’s bloodlines for PBR seasons to come.
And with the ever-epic bovine talent doubling down on the trophy-earning honors during the 2025 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast, it’s hard to change the pro’s process at this point, right?
“Yeah, he’ll be out there tomorrow,” Owen said an hour before Championship Sunday began.
“We’ll see how it goes – We do have a few calves out of him from last year and we’ll see how they can do bucking.”
Sure, we told the story of Owen and partner Jane Clark acquiring the standout bull after watching his inaugural journey capturing the sport’s biggest honors.
2025 was quite the different story, however, as Man Hater was telling his own story this time around. In DOMINANT fashion.
To the point where the tour has to reconsider labeling the 2025 season as “Year of the Man Hater” the way he regularly stamped scoresheets with eye-popping marks.
Fresh off his first title from the 2024 slate, he didn’t waste any time in kickstarting his title defense.
And while we thought his 49.25-pointer earned during a dance with the defending 2024 PBR World Champion Cassio Dias during a PBR Camping World Team Series out, the bull formerly named “Man Eater” still had a flashier finish to offer.
Rocketing out of the chutes with a MEAN demeanor, he showed Sage Steele Kimzey exactly what being “legendary” looks like, eventually earning the all-time top bull score of 49.5 points in EPIC fashion.
“They left us a little room that he can break it, too,” Owen said with a grin.
Going on to record the highest bull score in 14 different events this season, including pack-pacing efforts within both Eliminations and Championship stages of postseason play, this may have been the earliest a bull has unofficially clinched the honors.
Appearing at nine Unleash The Beast events during the regular season, earning the YETI “Built for the Wild” Bull of the Event honor during eight of those outings.
In a season where just four bull scores were recorded north of the 48-point mark, it’s only right that every mark belonged to the standout animal athlete. When the season came to an end, he owned each of the Top 7 bull scores on the big board.
After matching up with No. 1 Dias a few times last year, it was only right he danced with No. 1 Dalton Kasel in 2025 just the same.
The score wasn’t quite as epic but the result sure was: 8 seconds of greatness.
“I don’t mind seeing a really good bull ride. A few others have rode him now, too,” Owen added.
“As long as he’s bucking really, really good, we’re going to bring him back. They all drop off with time but when they go and ride him and he’s in the 80s, that won’t happen but once or twice and he’ll be done.”
Talk about preserving a legacy.
But we wouldn’t expect much less from one of the most respected stock contractors in the business.
On a typical regular season short round, most of the premier series’ riders won’t opt into a matchup with the sport’s most revered animal athlete.
But when there’s a whole lotta cash and respect on the line, matching up with the tour-topping beast represents an opportunity for a flashy score.
And much, much more.
Even though Owen had a good idea that his prized bovine had earned the honors in 2024, the tour didn’t officially announce Man Hater’s win until Championship Sunday.
This time around, due to the bull’s INSANE lead atop this year’s race, the tour did Owen a solid in taking away the suspense and crowning his standout animal athlete inside Cowtown Coliseum during the Eliminations stage.
The biggest difference between the two campaigns in Owens eyes?
Exactly that – The title celebration timing!
“Well last year they didn’t tell me I won it until Sunday – They stressed me out all week,” he offered with a laugh.
“They knew I’d won and I knew I’d won it but they wouldn’t admit I won it. This year they told me last week, so the pressure has been off.”
Having already clinched his second title, Man Hater could’ve literally showed up, took a bow and dropped to the ground for the lowest score in PBR history on Championship Sunday and still exited Jerry World with one of the best season-long efforts to date.
But that’s not Owen’s style – and it’s certainly not Man Hater’s, either, as he went on to dispatch Brady Fielder en route to earning a Championship round-best 46.5-point bull score.
Which, naturally, also earned him the 2025 PBR YETI Bull of the Finals honors and corresponding $25,000 check to match the $100,000 he earned for the outright championship.
Producing the highest bull score in 13 different events this season, including an Eliminations-topping, 46-point effort matched with Alan de Souza during the fourth and final round, he wasn’t coasting into the endgame showdown by any means.
Of course, having entered the three-stage finale with a commanding 1.94-point advantage over No. 2 Fast Flow, it’s easy to see just how dominant he was each and every out along the way.
Knowing he and each of the tour’s other bovine title contenders would keep two of their three scores from World Finals competition meant his opening postseason score of 45 points (paired with Austin Richardson) ended up being the lowest of the three.
Recognizing there were only 16 efforts scored above the 45-point mark throughout the eight-round showcase proves just how crazy the idea of Man Hater dropping his own 45-pointer from inside Cowtown Coliseum truly is.
Only because he turned the heat up as the weekend progressed, eventually logged 46 and 46.5-point bull scores, respectively,
Needing anything north of 40 points to officially clinch his second-straight title within the Fort Worth Stockyards last weekend, he met the mark with ease while skyrocketing veteran Souza into the 25-rider finale courtesy of an Eliminations-topping 92.5-pointer. Further stamping his tour-topping passport once more.
Becoming just the seventh back-to-back World Champion Bull in PBR history, he’s graced riders and fans alike with tons of electric memories already.
And with the standout bovine set to return to the chutes this summer during the fourth-season of camaraderie-driven action, it’s good to know another hot bull summer is already in the making!
Photo courtesy of Bull Stock Media