This December, Fort Worth, Texas, and the iconic Cowtown Coliseum will host yet another enthralling Western sports event. Today, in partnership with the PBR (Professional Bull Riders), the Ultimate Bullfighters (UBF) announced it will hold the six-day, two-weekend 2023 UBF World Finals Dec. 7-16 at the venue, when the 2023 UBF World Champion will be crowned and $150,000 will be awarded to 24 of the world’s best freestyle bullfighters. The high-adrenaline action will take over Fort Worth on Dec. 7-9 and Dec. 14-16. The UBF, launched in 2020 and showcasing the acrobatic Western discipline of freestyle bullfighting, is managed in partnership between Luke Kaufman, two-time PBR World Champion J.B. Mauney (Statesville, North Carolina) and renowned bullfighter Cody Webster. After awarding $237,000 in prize money in its inaugural season, the UBF paid out more than $350,000 in 2021, $550,000 in 2022, and is pacing to award more than $600,000 in 2023.
In freestyle bullfighting, a bullfighter competes for 60 seconds against a fighting bull predominantly of Spanish descent in an effort to score points for maneuvers performed during the one-minute competition. Unlike traditional bullfighting, the animals are not harmed. Bullfighters are judged solely on their ability to perform gravity-defying acrobatic stunts as close to the bull as possible without getting hit.
Throughout the six days of action for the 2023 UBF World Finals, produced in partnership with the PBR, 24 of the world’s top freestyle bullfighters will compete through a tiered, progressive elimination format until the 2023 UBF World Champion is crowned on Saturday, Dec. 16, earning the accompanying $50,000 bonus.
