CHICAGO — For the Carolina Kid, Fiery Flow, MVP whatever you want to call him, the new look isn’t just green chaps, it’s a full-circle moment.

Growing up in Cherryville, North Carolina, bull riding wasn’t something he discovered. It was something he inherited. The son of former bull rider Josh Guiton, Clay Guiton was raised inside the Western lifestyle, helping his family build Chicken Hill Bucking Bulls while most kids were still figuring out their first hobbies. He climbed on his first sheep at four years old, and by the time he was old enough to understand what he was watching, he already knew what he wanted to be.

A Monster Energy rider.

“That’s the one everybody grows up wanting,” Guiton said. “Watching guys like J.B. Mauney, Robson Palermo, L.J. Jenkins, that’s what you want to wear.”

In November, just days after helping deliver the Carolina Cowboys’ first-ever PBR Teams Championship, that childhood dream became reality. Sitting in a hotel room, Guiton got the call from his agent: Monster Energy wanted him.

The gear followed quickly, head to toe, right down to the socks, but the meaning runs deeper than apparel. For Guiton, his first year as a Monster Energy rider represents validation. Not just of where he is now, but of the road that brought him here.

Guiton’s rise has been fast, but never forced.

After riding alongside John Crimber and Kaiden Loud on the youth circuit, he graduated early from Burns High School in December 2023 and made his PBR debut at just 18 years old. Weeks later, he posted his first career 90-point ride aboard Bandito Bug in Tulsa, flashing the natural feel and composure that had followed him since childhood.

Injuries shortened his rookie season, but belief in his ability never wavered, especially from fellow North Carolinian J.B. Mauney, who selected Guiton in the first round of the 2024 PBR Teams New Rider Draft. After a season with the Oklahoma Wildcatters, Guiton was traded home to the Carolina Cowboys.

The move changed everything.

That turning point came just days after the trade, and it came fast. In Sioux Falls, Guiton delivered the kind of breakout weekend that announces a rider’s arrival on the sport’s biggest stage. The youn gun was the only rider to go a perfect 4-for-4 at the PREMIER Bankcard PBR Sioux Falls, presented by Cooper Tires, capping the weekend with two massive championship-round scores to earn his first career Unleash The Beast event win. In the span of one weekend, he rocketed from No. 23 to No. 10 in the 2025 PBR World Championship standings.

“That stretch really changed the way I rode,” he said. “Whether it was the trade, the win, or both, it changed my path.”

Now in his third Unleash The Beast season, Guiton enters 2026 with momentum, and eyes on him in green.

“There’s definitely an eye on the Carolina guys,” he said. “Rolling off a world title gives you all the confidence you need.”

But Guiton’s approach hasn’t changed. Whether it’s Teams or UTB, his mindset stays simple: ride his bulls.

“All I can control is staying on,” he said. “If I ride three every weekend, I did my job.”

Preparation hasn’t shifted much either. Guiton leans on consistency and on trusted voices. He regularly calls Carolina Cowboys head coach Jerome Davis, trades bull videos, and even picks up bulls from Davis’ place to add to the roughly 30 head he helps manage back home.

Guiton is a cowboy of habit, and proudly so.

He never puts his hat on the bed. His bull rope goes in the exact same spot every time. He refused to cut his hair until after the Teams Championship and isn’t opposed to letting it grow again if things keep going his way.

The green chaps? An adjustment, but a welcome one.

Even the cold doesn’t rattle him much anymore. Chicago, where he made his UTB debut in 10-degree weather, still holds unfinished business, but also perspective.

“To come back here two years later, where I’m at now, means a lot,” he said. “I’ve got some redemption for Chicago.”

Looking back, Guiton says the biggest growth hasn’t been technical, it’s been belief.

“When I first got here, I was pretty starstruck,” he said. “I set my bag down in Chicago and had Kaique Pacheco on one side and Silvano Alves on the other.”

Staying on tour, week after week, taught him he belonged. Winning taught him he could beat the best. Consistency taught him he deserved his spot.

“I feel like just go have fun. And if I go have fun and do my job, it’ll work out,” he said with a smile.

Now, wearing green, riding with confidence and having fun doing it, Guiton isn’t chasing the image he once watched growing up.

He’s living it.

And for Clay Guiton, the Monster Energy era feels less like a beginning and more like exactly where he was always headed.