In the depths of Chicago’s United Center, Marco Rizzo stood quietly, rosining his rope with the kind of focus that made the room feel still. He wasn’t just getting ready for a ride. He was rosining up his bow. The Devil may have come down to Georgia, but under the Chicago arena lights, now it was Marco’s turn to play — and he was ready to slay the dragon.

Tucked inside his gear bag sat his camo Bible that has just as many miles on it as the 20-year-old who holds it. The night before, and again that morning, he turned to Proverbs 3. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding …” The words stuck with him. Before bucking out Saturday night, he read the full chapter again.

“It tells us to trust the Lord in everything we do,” he said. “Even when we don’t understand. That’s what I was doing this week — trusting that what the Lord gave me was enough.”

The weekend would prove the man upstairs was right.

Just seven days earlier, Rizzo had gone 0-for-2 in Manchester. “I think I put too much pressure on myself,” he admitted. “I was trying too hard.” After the event, he returned to Georgia to regroup — not with rest, but with repetition. “I got back on practice bulls. Kept working out. I didn’t change the plan. I just went back to what’s always gotten me here.”

It wasn’t the first time he’d had to fight through adversity. His 2024 rookie season had shown flashes of brilliance — including an 87-point ride on American You and a podium finish in Los Angeles — before a broken leg in Billings ended it early. Since then, the journey back has tested him mentally and physically in ways few people ever saw.

“I got to a point where I wanted to give up,” he said. “But being saved helped me a lot. My faith, my parents, my coach — it all brought me back.”

He speaks about his family often — not just with affection, but with reverence. His dad, who doubles as his bullfighter, is his best friend. His uncles, Jeff and Marcelo, are his gate man and rope puller every Wednesday at 4 p.m., when they buck practice bulls in Quitman. And his mom?

She’s his rock, his steady ground — the person who understands when he’s struggling before he ever has to say it out loud. She’s the voice on the other end of late-night calls, the one who points him back toward prayer, perspective and the person she knows he is, especially when he starts to forget it himself.

So when he arrived in Chicago, it wasn’t just for a weekend of riding. It was a test of everything he had been carrying.

Friday night, he posted 85.3 points. Saturday’s Round 2 brought another qualified ride: 83.95 on Sweet Action. That put him second on the leaderboard heading into the short round.

Then came the bull draft.

Kate Harrison caught up with Rizzo moments before he made his pick. “They’re talking about Man Hater in the booth,” she said. “If you have the opportunity, do you go for the two-time champ?”

Rizzo didn’t flinch. “Oh sh*t yeah,” he said with a grin. “That’s my dream. Yeah, I’m getting on him.”

A bull of Man Hater’s caliber isn’t an easy draw. The two-time world champion is known for his towering vertical kick — a ride most veterans would second-guess. But Rizzo wanted the moment. He’d visualized it his whole life. “I grew up watching the greats get on bulls like him,” he said. “I had second pick, and I knew I wasn’t passing that up.”

As the chute gate swung open, the bull did exactly what he was known for — firing straight into the air with his back feet high. “The first two jumps felt so good,” Rizzo said. “Everything was clear. My brain just told me: stay calm, keep riding.”

But the final jumps were a blur. “I blacked out,” he admitted. “I looked at the ceiling and all I could think was, don’t turn loose.”

He didn’t.

Eight seconds later, the whistle blew and 90.25 points lit up the scoreboard — the highest score of Rizzo’s young career, and his first victory on the Unleash The Beast tour.

John Crimber couldn't wait. He threw his hat in the dirt and sprang over the bucking chute into the arena, embracing Rizzo in celebration. Together, they ran toward the buckle ceremony, Rizzo shouting through the tunnel, “Did I win?!” as the last buzzer sounded. Clay Guiton met them screaming, “Yeah champ!” with a fist bump near the gate. The trio known to the broadcast booth as the “Three Stooges” — bonded by years of growing up riding bulls together — were now united in victory on the sport’s biggest stage, living the dream they had all prayed for.

Back in the locker room, Rizzo made his first call.

It was to his mom, Andreia.

“Let me show you this sh*t,” he said, holding up the buckle and check. “Forty freaking bands.”

The crowd on the other end of the FaceTime — his parents, Uncle Jeff and more family watching from Georgia — erupted in celebration.

As for the money?

It’s going straight to the bathroom remodel at his small South Georgia Baptist church — the one that’s poured into him as faithfully as his family has. After that, he’ll pay off the truck that’s been hauling practice bulls up and down country roads. And maybe, if there’s something left, he’ll buy himself a four-wheeler — a little piece of fun, a small reward for holding on when life tried to buck him off.

But the win meant far more than money.

“This is a win for my whole family,” he said. “For my dad, my mom, my uncles, my coach. It took all of them. This buckle is just as much theirs.”

Rizzo credits New York Mavericks head coach Kody Lostroh for helping him rebuild his confidence — mentally, physically and spiritually. The two have been in constant contact. “I send him videos from practice pens and little rodeos,” Rizzo said. “He’s been helping me a lot. It means something when it’s coming from a world champ — someone who’s been on bulls like Man Hater and won.”

When asked about the other young guns, Rizzo laughed. “John told me, ‘Big chest, big nuts — go win.’ That was the motto this week.”

He did just that.

In Chicago, Marco Rizzo didn’t just conquer a bull.

He conquered the weight of expectation. The voices of doubt. The memories of injuries, the pressure of proving himself, the fear of not being enough.

And he did it not by becoming someone new — but by remembering who he’s always been.

Faithful. Family-raised. Fighter.

He rosined up his rope like a bow, stepped into the spotlight and played the ride of his life.

And as the dust settled in Chicago, the “Money Man” didn’t just walk away with 40 bands.

He walked away with belief.

Rizzo sits No. 2 in the world standings with 130.00 points — just 6 points behind No. 1 Dalton Kasel with PBR Boston up next, igniting the new year Jan. 2-3 at TD Garden.